Legend of the Promised One
by StormySerenity
Summary: The cartoon rewritten. New world, new legend, new Neri!
1. Legend of the Promised One 1

Disclaimer: once again names, places, and faces belong to Mediaworld and I am playing with them purely for fun with no intent to cause copyright infringement or make any $$   
  
Stormy says: The whole story with cool graphics and other informational tidbits can be found at http://www.powernet.net/~mbaring/oceanna.htm  
  
Legend of the Promised One  
Come Awake  
  
"Neri... Neri... Promised One!"  
The princess of Oceanna stirred in her sleep.  
"Please... save me!"  
Neri opened her eyes. She was in her own bed, in the tower of the palace. It was almost dawn. "Hey-- Micro, wake up! Let's go watch the sun rise!"  
"Growf?" Neri's dog woke up and wagged his tail happily.  
Outside the sky was a light shadowy blue with rosy clouds. The sun burned just beyond the horizon then rose into the world, casting a trail of bright gold on the water. The princess watched as the light came forward, reflecting off tower roofs and glittering in the waves as the morning sea woke up. Neri climbed onto the outside of her balcony, and dived off into that trail of gold.  
Promised one...  
Water burst in coolness around her. She pulled herself deeper. The ocean was clear and shining.  
Neri...  
Micro dived in next to her, running around in the water with his propeller tail. Neri sighed and let herself rise to the air.  
Save me!  
Her head broke the surface.  
"A dream."  
  
"Uncle?"  
"Oh, good morning Neri."  
"Morning princess, beautiful day!"  
"G-good morning Shema." Neri replied, but the flier chieftain had already gone on ahead. "Uncle, can I ask you-- who's the Promised One?"  
"What? No one knows yet. Our Lady Neri left us the legend of the Promised One who will appear-- oh, coming Shema!"  
Neri was left behind as the king hurried away. She shook her head with a smile. This was getting more common when talking to her uncle, especially when Shema was at the palace. King Nimon was gentle and tired looking most of the time, like his sister, the mother Neri could barely remember.  
Ah well. Neri turned and opened the window. Micro was waiting outside, chasing birds back and forth.   
"Hey! Micro!" And Neri dived out the window into the sea. When she came up Micro gave a questioning bark. "Going to see Neanda. Coming?" Micro barked a definite yes and dived.  
  
The cavedwellers lived on the other side of the island. Neri and Micro swam to their side and climbed the thin path up to the caves. She entered her friend's home and called out, "Neanda?"  
I am here, Neri." The cavedweller was sitting far in the back of the cave, doing something by the light of one candle.  
Neri smelled the spicy green scent of herbs; Neanda was making medicines. Neri walked back to sit by the candle. "Neanda? I had a dream, someone called me the Promised One."  
A long pause then Neanda asked, "Who?"  
"I don't know. A girl's voice.... I asked my uncle but he was too busy, who is the Promised One?"  
Another pause. Neanda always thought before he spoke. "When Tiara was queen, a foreseer came to speak here. She said that the magic of this world will draw greed to it, and everything will fall into darkness and confusion. At that time the Promised One will come forth from the people and she will bring a new age. That is the legend."  
"It was that time Neri gave us the sacred whale, wasn't it?"  
"That is the legend."  
"Do you believe it? Believe in the sacred whale, I mean? I don't think my uncle does."  
"I have never seen her."  
"I have. There was a shooting star that lit up the whole sky. Micro woke me up to see it.. That's when I saw the sacred whale, out beyond the cove."  
"If you have seen her, you can believe." Neanda observed. He stood, strained his herb mixture into a stone jar, and put its cork in. Then he touched the candle to lights along the walls, lighting the cave to a warm hominess. Micro trotted in with his eyes lit up like a flashlight.  
"Neri, the sacred whale has always been connected with the Promised One in stories."  
"It can't be happening now; everything's peaceful. Except for the fliers and the amphibians but they're always feuding."  
"Are Shema and Zardor at the palace today?"  
"Shema is. I didn't see Zardor."  
"Perhaps you should watch them."  
"Did you hear something Neanda?"  
"Laziah is worried. He sees trouble in the future."  
Neri's eyes widened, "Tell me more."  
"I know no more."  
Laziah was not likely to get worried without reason. He was the wisest person Neri knew. "I'll watch, then."  
"The sacred whale is the one who knows of this. Perhaps you should look for her."  
"Maybe."  
  
But she did go seeking the sacred whale the next day, though she didn't admit to herself what she was doing.  
"Morning, Micro! Let's go exploring today, uncle doesn't need us." Micro nodded. Neri got a crescent-shaped bag in case she found anything interesting, and they went out into the morning sea.  
She was digging a shell bigger than her head out of the sand when she saw a shadow above her.   
Music notes fell through the water. Neri stared up, frozen in an emotion like wonder or fear or maybe recognition. "Micro-that's-"   
"Grr-wow!" Micro made bigeyes then dived his head into the sand. His tail wrote 'do not disturb' on the ground next to him.  
Neri let herself drift upward. The sacred whale waited. Its huge bulk drifted impossibly graceful, perfect in the water as a bird was in the air. One great dark eye watched her. Neri didn't know what to do; she wanted to bow or kneel, but they were drifting free in the water. So she spoke. "Madam, I'm honored you came to me."  
More music, notes flowing like silk, and this time it had meaning. The sacred whale offered her name, Mandrool, and a greeting.  
  
Elsewhere...  
"Girl."  
"Father."  
"Are you ready to start searching?"  
"No, not yet. Tomorrow at this time I believe I will be."  
"All right."  
"Father? Everything here has names. Do you have a name?"  
"Yes."  
"Do I?"  
"No."  
"I see."  
"Tomorrow then."  
  
"She said she needs my help. Neanda, I'm frightened. The sacred whale is so wise, what could she need my help for?"  
Neanda thought for a minute. "The sacred whale is the keeper of wisdom. Someone else must act on that wisdom."  
"... Am I the Promised One?"  
"I do not know. If you would have my advice, do not tell any other that you have seen the sacred whale."  
"Ok." Neri thought, "Why not?"  
"If people come to believe the Promised One has appeared they will remember the time of darkness which was also foreseen. Their fear may bring that time of darkness to be."  
"I... I see." Neri whispered.  
  
Another night the sacred whale led her down a chasm, into the deeper sea. Later Neri would only remember dark translucent rocks, the glowing starfish like a reflection of the sky. A curtain of seaweed appeared in front of her, covering a hole in the canyon's side. Neri pushed through into a lower tunnel. It was almost totally dark, only a single beam of moonlight came through from above. In that light Neri could see a tree, a tree of coral and hanging in its branches a human shape. Neri saw pale arms and legs, and long hair fanned out in the water.  
Neri stopped. She wasn't sure the other girl was even breathing. "Hey-are you all right? Wake up?"  
Slowly, huge seagreen eyes opened. "Ne... ri?"  
"Who are you?"  
"Nobody." The word barely stirred the water. "I have no name. I think you are supposed to give me one."  
"I can't, I don't even know you."  
"Please?"  
Neri thought for a long minute. The scene... reminded her of something from a picture book or a mosaic. She swam to the edge of the coral tree and reached through the branches. The nameless girl's hand felt fragile. "Gate.... Girl at the gate. I don't know how to say it like a name."  
"Thank you."  
"Who are you?" Neri asked again.  
"Promised One..."  
Neri woke up in her own bed. It was the middle of the night. She whispered into the darkness, "Mandrool... that girl..."  
The sacred whale whispered patience. Neri went back to sleep.  
  
Morning, and elsewhere...  
"Yes. I will get it for you."  
  
The palace trembled. Whispers spread through the throne room like ripples in water. Neri heard 'tide' and 'balance' and 'crystals.' Fear. She heard fear. Something is happening to the three crystals that control the balance of Oceanna... but the crystals are hidden! "Uncle..?" Neri whispered.  
"It's all right." King Nemon told her. He pointed up one of the spiraling staircases. A person dressed in white was descending.  
It was her. White satin on pale skin, heavy black hair and those eyes, huge and green as the sea.  
The king stood and helped the girl down the last few steps. "Do not be afraid, my people. I give you the Promised One, Himemiya."  
  



	2. Legend of the Promised One 2

Disclaimer: once again names, places, and faces belong to Mediaworld and I am playing with them purely for fun with no intent to cause copyright infringement or make any $$   
  
Stormy says: Every time I get stuck on this story, I have a dream that gives me a new element to add in. Miya was the first dream.  
  
Legend of the Promised One  
White Shadows  
  
  
"He-may-me-ya." Neri repeated the strange name to herself. "Uncle, where did she come from?" That came out louder than she'd intended.  
"The temple of the crystals." King Nemon replied, "Miya, meet my niece, Princess Neri."  
The Promised One curtseyed in a pool of white satin. Her dress was long and flowing, and her hair hung heavily over it. She straightened up and turned those amazing eyes on Neri. "Greetings, princess."  
It was too strange. "Nice to meet you, Himemiya. Want to be friends?"  
A lovely smile lit her face. "Perhaps. Would you introduce me to the people?"  
"Sure-certainly." Some impulse prompted Neri to offer her arm like boys did to escort their girlfriends to dances. Himemiya tucked a thin hand in the crook of Neri's arm and swept along beside her.  
"This is Shema, chief of the fliers."  
Shema chirped, "Hello Promised One Himemiya. I am glad to meet you, thank you for appearing."  
The Promised One blinked at the speed of the delivery, "Nice to meet you Shema. The fliers need more land, is that not so? Perhaps I can raise mountains for you."  
"That would be much appreciated." Shema bobbed a bow and seemed to evaporate; she dashed off so fast.  
"Shema's... always like that." Neri said. She saw two of the other leaders and nodded towards them, "Zardor is chief of the amphibians. The gray cavedweller with him is Laziah. Maybe Neanda came with him... there he is."  
Neanda waved a shaggy paw at them and Neri led Himemiya over.  
"Neanda..."  
Neanda bowed, courtly as anyone Neri had ever seen. His eyes glittered thoughtfully. "I greet you, Promised One."  
"Greetings cavedweller."  
"Neanda is my oldest friend."  
Himemiya stood silent. Her hand in Neri's arm was cool. The floor trembled. Neri saw Laziah look up sharply, then hurry from the room.  
"I must go." The girl in white pulled away. She almost ran to the window, and dived out. A pair of white satin shoes lay on the floor.   
Earthquakes, the true signs of trouble. Where had the Promised One gone? Laziah would have gone... to the temple under the earth! Neri wanted to go after him, since she couldn't follow Miya. She ran from the room.  
  
The caves were like a maze. Neri ran along, choosing turns by instinct. There was no danger in getting lost but it might be a few hours before someone found her.  
There-the open space, the carved doorway, that was the temple. All the lamps were out. Neri felt a twinge of fear. "Laziah?"  
She went in. The altar stone was broken open, its heart removed. "Laziah? Where are you? Laziah!"  
The monster was on her before she could turn, tusks snapping over her face, animal weight shoving her against the altar. Neri screamed and the monster roared in her face. She got one foot up, kicked the thing off her, and ran. She heard claws on stone and snuffling breath behind her. There was a well here somewhere, she remembered passing it-there! She climbed in, bruising her hands on the stone as she pulled herself deeper. Up through five feet of water she saw the beast's red eyes, its tusked mouth, and claws hanging over the sides of the well. It roared and the water shook.  
What had happened to Laziah? The creature wasn't leaving; Neri couldn't come up. She told herself there had been no sign of struggle; Laziah had to be all right.  
After long minutes the gruesome head vanished. Neri waited a little longer then came up. No sign of the monster. Her voice squeaked as she called, "L-laziah? Laziah! Anybody!"  
"Woof!"  
Micro. Neri slumped against the rock. "Micro, there's a monster."  
"Woof." Micro hadn't seen it. He scouted around while Neri got her breath and slicked her wet hair into a knot. Then she heard Micro's howl and ran to help.  
"What's wrong Micro-Laziah!"  
The cavedweller chieftain lay on the floor. He wasn't visibly hurt but he wasn't moving. Neri bent down and touched the furry shoulder, "Laziah?"  
A growling groan.  
"Micro, get Neanda!"  
"Rrf!" Micro replied.  
"I am here Neri."  
"Neanda!" Neri could have cried with relief. "There was a monster here! Laziah's hurt. The altar is broken."  
Laziah's voice snarled, "True? The altar... the crystal."  
"It's gone. Whatever was inside the rock is gone."  
"Lorelei, Neri." The growl was fading from Laziah's voice. "She tore the stone with her hands. I tried to stop her. I remember no more."  
"Enough. This is no place to rest." Neanda helped Laziah to his feet, half carrying the leader against his massive shoulders.   
Neri looked back into the temple. The shattered altar stood silently. Laziah's staff lay on the floor. Neri ran and got it, then saw the marks of claws digging into the wood until it almost split.   
  
They left Laziah in a guest room of the palace with the cavedweller doctor and Neanda caring for him. Neri whispered, "Neanda." And put the staff into her friend's hand.  
He looked at the torn wood, expressionless. "Neri, a favor. Find the Promised One."  
"All right." Neri ran out with Micro at her heels.  
But the Promised One hadn't come back. Finally, angry, Neri climbed to the top of the palace and shouted, "Himemiya! Miyaaaa!"  
There was no answer. A lorelei, Laziah had said. Oceanna's legendary monster, stone white creatures with long claws and empty eyes. They could charm any creature with a song and steal life with a kiss. But they were fantasy, no-one had ever really seen one. There was no such thing as a lorelei. Why had Laziah said it?  
"Let's go back there."  
"Arf?"  
"You'll be able to smell the monster if it's there. It smelled like dead things."  
They left the palace, went back through the caves. This time Neri knew the way. She walked silently to listen for the monster, but heard nothing. She came to the place where Laziah had fallen and brushed her hands over the stone feeling for blood. There was none. She went further, back to the temple.  
"Smell anything Micro? Is it around?"  
"Rr." No.  
Neri put her hands in the broken altar and lifted out pieces of rock. She could feel grooves carved by the claws of the monster, or a lorelei. There was a perfectly shaped hole carved in the center of the stone. The crystal. Laziah's seeing glass had been one of the crystals of Oceanna.  
And now it was gone. Into the phantom hands of the lorelei.  
  
There was nothing else to see. They went outside. Neri waded into the ocean and sat down where the waves swelled just to her neck and lifted her hair. Perhaps it could wash away the way she felt. A crystal... Laziah's lorelei... the monster... Himemiya. She was afraid.  
Miya walked out of the waves. Her sodden dress plastered to her body and swirled around her feet with the waves. Her hands were tucked into her dress, hidden.  
"Promised One." Neri couldn't muster any emotion.  
"Princess."   
"What's going on?"  
Miya just stared, blankly like she didn't know or didn't care. Finally she said, "The creature you saw will not return, for now. Laziah will be all right. The crystal is... gone." She collapsed, splashing into the water.  
Neri jumped up to help her.  
Miya came up gasping and choking, and Neri froze. The Promised One couldn't breathe water. But everyone born on Oceanna could breathe water. Neri helped the other girl out of the waves and Miya sat down in the hot golden sand, not caring how much stuck to her dress and her hair. Neri stood over her. "Are you all right?"  
"Yes." Miya said between coughs. "Only tired."  
That was right; Neri had trouble getting her breath too, when she fell in. Her shocking thought couldn't have been true. It was impossible.  
"Neanda wants to see you. But we can rest a little while."  
They sat and watched the waves come in.  
  
Elsewhere, and later...  
"Are you well? Your hands..."  
"Healing."  
"Ah."  
"They look at me with such awe. I think the princess... cares for me."  
"What does she call you?"  
"Miya. Himemiya."  
"Princess of the gate. How appropriate."  
  
  



	3. Legend of the Promised One 3

Disclaimer: once again names, places, and faces belong to Mediaworld and I am playing with them purely for fun with no intent to cause copyright infringement or make any $$   
  
Stormy says: and enter Jobah! I like how he turned out. The gliders are the second dream material; they're also borrowed from Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind.   
  
Legend of the Promised One  
Wings  
  
"Jobah... brother..."  
The prince of Bandor looked up from his books. There was no one there. Just the wind coming through the rocks.  
"Brother... help me..."  
Jobah dropped bookmarks into the atlases and weighted his maps. The work was unimportant and he didn't want to just listen to the wind.   
Afternoon sunlight baked the towers of red rock. The thermals would be great. Jobah found his glider among the others, got on, and pushed off the edge of the cliff. He fell for a moment, then hit the engine. A jet of flame hurtled the glider forward and Jobah leaned on the bars, steering with his weight alone.  
People working in the fields saw the glider and waved. Jobah waved back and let the wind carry him farther out, away from civilization. A solitary hawk rose from a canyon, then shied away. Jobah imagined a nest, and chicks. A pair of lizards scurried away; they didn't know hunting had been banned. Too many kinds of animals had been reduced to a few captives, or a few genetic samples, or nothing at all.   
His sister was probably extinct as well and he shouldn't be hearing her voice in the wind. Angry, Jobah hit the engine and dived into the canyon. Controlling the glider with one hand he flew the stone forest.  
  
He returned home at sunset, on waves of heat rising as the sun left for the night. Someone was waiting on the cliff by the other gliders. "Prince!"  
"Adeen, what's up?"  
"Land and I'll tell you." Adeen stepped well back from the edge.  
Jobah let a last wind carry him over the cliff and jumped, landing perfectly and catching the glider so its own momentum swung it back into its cradle. "What's happened?"  
"I found Galiel."  
"What! Where?"  
"Oceanna. No way to tell if he's got anybody with him."  
Back to Oceanna, to the first planet he'd ruined. "I have to go there."  
Adeen smiled, "I know. While you were wind-riding I was talking with your father. You're invited officially to meet the princess of Oceanna, with everyone hoping the two of you will fall madly in love."  
That was unlikely. "I'd almost forgotten Oceanna had a princess. How old is she?"  
"Seventeen. Her name is Neri."  
Now that was irony.  
"Really, Prince, you should research a bit before you go. Things are shaking up on Oceanna. The legendary Promised One has appeared."  
Jobah didn't know or care about Oceannaic legends.  
"Take my glider, for the princess. It would make a fine gift and I never use it."  
Jobah laughed, "Very well, after five years I believe you'll never voluntarily learn to fly. I will take it in case this princess has more love for the winds than you."  
  
Neri finished putting up her hair and got a bag. The only thing she could thing to do was look for the sacred whale. There was so much she needed to learn.  
"Woof!" Micro jumped up from below the balcony.  
"Micro, good morning! Has anything happened?"  
Micro shook his head, then nodded, then grabbed Neri's skirt in his teeth.  
"Is everything all right?"  
"Grrf!" Everything was fine, but there was definitely something Micro wanted her to see.  
"All right, I'm coming."   
  
The king was waiting on a terrace outside the palace. Someone else was there, leaving out over the railing to look at the water.  
"Morning, uncle."  
"Neri, good morning! We have a guest I'd like you to meet. This is Jobah of Bandor."  
The prince, Neri thought. Their eyes met and her heart fluttered momentarily.   
"Glad to meet you, princess."  
Neri scrambled for her royal dignity, "Likewise. If there's anything I can do to help your stay on our world, just ask. And please, call me Neri."  
"Thank you. I'll take you up on both those offers. If you aren't busy, Neri, I'd like to talk to you a little. Your majesty also, if you're free." Jobah bowed slightly to King Nemon.  
"I'm afraid I'm not." The king replied, "Shema brought another territory problem and I have to see to it. Neri, I'm sure you can show Prince Jobah to wherever he wants to go."  
"Of course." Neri said, and watched her uncle leave. He looked older now, and worried.  
Jobah was watching her. "Are you sure you weren't going somewhere?"  
"I was going exploring, but it can wait."  
The prince smiled at the mention of exploring, but his smile faded. "Neri, I'm sorry to hand you my problems minutes after we met, but I need your help."  
"I'll help if I can. What happened?"  
"Seven years ago the space wizard Galiel came to my planet. He left Bandor a ruin with most of its native species decimated or extinct."  
Neri was looking at him wide-eyed. How could anyone say this in such a calm voice? "I'm sorry."  
"And at that time, my sister Mera disappeared. We think Galiel kidnapped her. That's why I came."  
"But what can.."  
"You didn't know? Galiel is on Oceanna!"  
"What!" Neri had been leaning on the rail, but a shiver of fear sent her to her feet. "How do you know?"  
"My friend Adeen is a bit of a wizard himself and found a way to track Galiel's ship. He stayed in space for seven years and then came here."  
Neri felt blank terror. Galiel, the evil; from legends, here. "Are you sure?"  
"Adeen is sure. I'm just investigating every possibility. If there's any chance she's alive, I have to keep trying."  
"Of course I'll help you look for your sister. But please, don't tell anyone else about Galiel! There have been other omens of the time of darkness, it would cause a panic!"  
"I understand. Are you all right?"  
Neri was pacing, trembling with the need to go somewhere, and do something. To ask Neanda for help. To beg the sacred whale for reassurance. To put the problem in her uncle's hands because she was in out of her depth, and Himemiya... "Your sister's name... is Mera?"  
"Yes. My parents admired the first Mera so much. You can leave if you need to, this talk will keep a few days."  
"Thank you. I know someone who might really know about your sister. Micro, would you introduce Prince Jobah around?"  
"Woof!"  
"A dog?"  
"He's not exactly a dog." Neri climbed over the rail, "Oceanna doesn't have dogs."  
"Ok." Jobah said in the voice of someone happy to believe anything.  
Neri grinned at him and dived. Looking up through the water see Jobah looking out, waiting for her to come up for air. She didn't have to, so she didn't. Welcome to Oceanna, prince.  
Then her smile faded, the burst of flirtatious delight going out like a blown candle. Was it true, was Galiel here? Why, after all this time, after two thousand years... She swam harder, pulling water past her like she could outrun the possibilities. The sacred whale wouldn't come into the cove where people lived so she had to go outside, where the trenches and caves spread across the ocean floor.  
Neri came off the ledge and let the currents carry her on over the maze of canyons. It was like flying, really.  
Music swirled past her, part of the current. At last you've come.  
"I need your help." It was all a tangle. Galiel, Laziah's lorelei, the beast in the tunnel, the crystal, Jobah, Miya...  
Notes chimed, something falling from the sky like an exhausted bird, a pillar of salt steam rising from where it hit. He really has come back.  
But the Galiel in the sacred whale's memory was... a person, not a monster. A person who could smile, and whose eyes could show unhappiness like anyone's eyes.  
"Impossible!" Neri shouted as this almost pitiable image slammed against the truth she'd always known.  
The sacred whale didn't argue. Whoever's truth was the real one, it would remain.  
"Then..." Neri felt suddenly that any question she could ask would be the wrong one. The sacred whale couldn't tell the future, couldn't read all hearts. "What was that monster I saw?"  
The oldest secret of Oceanna. Soon, you will learn it for yourself. Neri heard sorrow. The oldest secret was too painful to speak.  
Neri whispered, "The Promised One..?"  
Now is the time.  
"I'm scared and I don't know what to do."  
The response was approving. Fear is right, for this time.  
"Is Miya the Promised one? Or-am-I!"   
Her shout was jarring, not the noise but the desperation behind it. The sacred whale was not going to simply tell her. No instructions, no explanations, no simple answers. But Miya... is precious. Protect her.  
"Who is she?" Neri asked the sky, not expecting an answer.  
Who could she be?  
A school of fish flew over, heading for the coral reefs in the shallows. "Who could she be?" Neri wondered herself. Why had her uncle believed this girl was the Promised One? Where had she come from? And what sort of name was 'Himemiya?' Questions to shred away the mystery.  
"All right. I'll find out myself." Neri pushed off the rock she'd been sitting on and swam for the surface. Birds, going to the island, echoed the movement of the fish.  
Something followed the birds, something big and bright. Neri kicked hard, pushing herself out of the water. The bright thing tipped and she realized it was a flying machine. Jobah was standing between the silver wings, his hair streaming back in the wind.  
"Hello!" Neri shouted, "What is that?"  
"My glider. When you get back I'll show you how it works."  
"Ok!" Neri yelled, happy. The silver bird turned and Neri dived, hurrying to stay in its shadow.  
  
Miya was sitting on the lowest air-level of the palace, swinging her feet in the water while she and Zardor looked at maps.  
"I see well why you can't live with the fliers if their nests block out the sun your people need." Miya said.  
"They need clear sky; we need sun on the ground. Once our people shared the land with human people and the rivers with no one, before the tide."  
"I cannot make more land but I will plead your case."  
Neri saw that Zardor had expected the Promised One to make more dry land. But that was crazy; even the Promised One couldn't do such a great miracle. Neri climbed out of the water and greeted them both.  
Miya stood and shaded her eyes to watch the glider come in to land somewhere above them. "Neri could I come with you? I would much like to see that machine the prince of Bandor brought with him."  
"Of course-Certainly." Neri said, and they went to find the place.  
Jobah had claimed a top balcony for his glider and another one.  
"Prince, this is Himemiya, the Promised One."  
"You may call me Miya like Neri does. I'm glad to meet you. May I try..?" Without really waiting for an answer she caught up the smaller glider and flung it and herself off the balcony. Somehow she leaped to ride between the wings, and flew like she'd been doing it all her life.  
Neri blinked. "Is it that easy?"  
"No. Not the first time. Are you sure she's really from here?"  
"Of course. The Promised One has to be from Oceanna. But I don't really know anything about her."  
"She sure can fly. You want to try?"  
"Mmhm!" Neri said, trying to sound as excited as she was without sounding as scared as she was. "How do you start?"  
Jobah grabbed the other glider and held it over his head. "Hang on to the bottom and wait for a wind."  
"You sure the water won't hurt it when I crash?"  
"I'm sure-here, take it."  
Neri did. The glider was light, she could hardly believe it would hold her weight. Then a breeze caught the wide wings and lifted her off her feet. She yelped in surprise.  
"Jump." Jobah said.  
"Jump off?"  
"Don't worry."  
Another, stronger breeze started and Neri cautiously pushed off the balcony. The wind pulled her up, to her surprised, and she found herself looking down at the palace from a new angle. It sparkled; it sparkled more from above.  
The other glider flashed by, Miya not a slave to the wind but able to steer herself. Miya was grinning. The expression looked strange on her.  
"Isn't this amazing!" Neri shouted to her.  
"Oh yes!"  
Neri was losing altitude; she couldn't reach the engine to go up like Miya could. Before her feet touched the water she dropped, splashing in at a strange angle. She stayed under until she heard the glider splash down, and then swam to get it. She came up in time to see Miya land perfectly on the balcony and catch her glider with one hand before it could fly away.  
As Neri ran up the stairs she heard Jobah say, "Where did you learn to fly like that?"  
A clack as Miya set the glider down. "I-I don't know. I've never seen one of these before."  
"Are you certain? You've never come to Bandor?"  
"I'm sure. I've been here all my life."  
Neri reached the top to find them looking at each other: Jobah suspicious, dark eyes narrow, Miya innocent and unknowing. Neri said, "Can I try again? Show me how to ride like you can!"  
Jobah smiled, and Neri wished it was within her power to make that smile last. She liked him much more than she should like anybody on the first day.  
  
Neri was balancing shakily on top of the glider when she saw a dark shape in the sky. "Miya? Jobah? Do you see that?"  
"Nothing."  
"No." Jobah shaded his eyes and looked up, "Wait there's something there!"  
It dived. Neri saw a vague crumpled shape. It hit the water and bounced up again, wings slimed with salt water.   
Jobah shouted, "What is that?"  
Miya swung back to the tower and landed.  
Neri didn't know how to land; it was all she could do to stay in the air. She swung to face the creature. "What are you?"  
Eight eyes shifted to look at her, not tracking together. The beast opened its fanged beak and grated out a hoarse cry. It sounded like it was in pain.   
"Get in the water Neri!" Miya's voice carried urgently.  
Neri wasn't listening. She balanced in the air and held out a calming hand. "Calm yourself, creature. I'll help you."  
The thing wailed unhappily and attacked. Neri felt its claws catch her hand then rake through her hair. She screamed, lost control of the glider, and crashed down into the water. A minute later the creature fell in too and sank, trailing a cloud of red behind it. She stared at it for a long moment then came up.  
Jobah stood on the balcony holding a strange object Neri belatedly recognized as a gun. It looked different from the picture she'd seen.  
The flying monster must be dead then. That's what guns do. Neri choked on horror and climbed onto the lowest terrace. The glider floated, but she didn't want to go out and retrieve it.  
"Neri! Are you all right?" Jobah ran down the stairs to her.  
Neri could only gasp out, "You shot it!" more horrified by that than by her own danger.  
"It was that or lose an arm when it attacked us. Are those things common?"  
"No. That's not an Oceanna animal. It's nothing real."  
"Nothing real?"   
"I don't know what it was. Your gun scared me more than that creature did! It is a gun isn't it?"  
"Yes." The gun had vanished somewhere. "I knew your planet didn't have much use for violence but you've never seen one..?"  
Miya said, "You'd better keep it with you." Before Neri could say the opposite. "There are more of those creatures about, princess."  
"How do you know?" Neri jumped up and faced the Promised One. Miya's hair was so long it blew around them both. "How do you know? What do you know about the monster?"  
"I just know." Miya answered, her eyes wide and frightened. "I can sense when a monster is in this world but not how many or where!"  
"What are they?"  
"I don't know." With a quick Jump Miya went to retrieve the floating glider.  
Neri sighed.  
"On Bandor we'd call her a medium, someone who can learn things through senses other than her own. That's probably how she learned to fly. I'm sorry I frightened you."  
"It's all right. Thank you for protecting Miya-and yourself too. May I see your gun?"  
"Sure." Jobah looked surprised by her request, but he got the gun out of a pocket and handed it to her. "It's not armed now; it won't go off."  
The gun was surprisingly heavy. It was small and chunky, made of a bronze colored metal. Neri held it out like he had, using both hands to keep it steady. "Tell me how to use it?"  
"Um..." Jobah looked as if the sight of her with the gun unnerved him.  
"Don't." Miya said. "Neri, never use one of those. Don't even think about it."  
Jobah took back his weapon and tucked it away. "Wouldn't do you any good. It takes time to learn to aim."  
"I didn't want to shoot things. I just wanted to know."  
"Sorry for ganging up on you." Jobah said, smiling. "Want to fly some more?"  
Neri noticed Miya didn't look apologetic at all. Neri shook her head, "I'd better check in with my uncle."  
"I should go as well." Miya said simply. "I will see you both later." She dived and was gone.  
Neri watched the water. Miya didn't come up to breathe.  
"What's the 'Promised One'?" Jobah asked, "Adeen told me I should learn about this place, but I didn't."  
"Your friend is smart, listen to him." Neri grinned, "Let's go inside. The Promised One is our legend. She's the hero who will appear when the world is in danger...."  
  
"Uncle, what news?"  
Neri had hardly spoken when Shema shoved past her. "King Nemon, when are you going to do do something about this? Our nets were shredded last night and the amphibians enjoy the fish that fightfully belong to my people!"  
It seemed like a small matter but the winged queen was irate. Neri began, "I'll help you repair them, I'm not busy today..."  
Her uncle sighed and shook his head, "Better not, Neri. To hear them tell it Shema's folk and Zardor's have been sabotaging each other all week. Don't let yourself be seen taking sides."  
"My court has done nothing wrong! Thank you for your offer princess but we have help already." Shema pranced out.  
"All week?" Neri asked, "And 'take sides'? It's that bad?"  
"I'm afraid so."  
Jobah stepped forward, "Forgive my alien's ignorance but aren't torn fishing nets well... a little petty?"  
"Yes. Oh definitely. But pettiness is on in a plague. Don't think too badly of Shema; she's more level headed than she acts."  
Neri thought she heard the prince mutter, "I should hope."  
Then Jobah said aloud, "King Nemon, we were attacked today by a flying creature that looked, a little I guess, like one of the fliers but had no speech. I have a gun with me, and killed the creature when it came at Miya and myself."  
"It's probably the only pure weapon on Oceanna."  
"I know, now. With your permission though, I'd like to keep it. Oceanna seems to be getting dangerous lately."  
"Granted, if you'll protect Neri."  
"Of course."  
"Neanda is my knight." Neri said, frowning.  
Her uncle looked almost amused, as if she was being childish. "I know Neri. But no one person can be there for you all the time."  
That was true. Neri let it pass. "Are there more monsters? Has anyone else seen them?"  
"Yes, flying ones and aquatic ones."  
"What are they?"  
"I don't know. No one does."  
"No one?" Neri repeated, astonished.  
The king shook his head, "Neri have you spoken with Laziah since the day the Promised One appeared?"  
"No."  
"Nor has anyone. Neanda says he is well but he has not returned.  
"I'll go... talk to both of them, if I can. Miya's gone again. "  
"I wish I knew where she goes every day. But that's tomorrow's question. I'd come with you but I'm needed here. There are 'emergencies' every other minute."  
Neri nodded, "It's all right. Jobah, come with me?"  
"Of course."  
Just outside the throne room she stopped, "I'm sorry... you came here to find your sister. You don't have to get tangled in our troubles."  
Jobah looked down at her, half-smiling but with thoughtful eyes. "I think this is where I want to be, where I have the best chance of finding Galiel and Mera. Besides, dealing with troubles other than Bandor's in a relief!" He added lightly.  
"Thank you. I'm very, very glad to have your help. Come on, I'll show you where the cavedwellers live! Wait, one question. Jobah, can you swim?"  
Jobah stared, then began to laugh. "Yes, I can swim."  
  
Elsewhere...  
"Tell me, who is that man?"  
"Prince Jobah of Bandor."  
"Really."  
"He brought flying machines and I know how to use them. I don't know how I learned, I must have dreamed it."  
"You must have."  
"The third one... I haven't found it yet. It is far from here. I will seek tonight."  
"Do not hurt yourself hurrying. The time I have I am using well."  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Legend of the Promised One 4

Disclaimer: Mediaworld's are theirs, this fic is mine, no money is being made, no copyright violation is intended.   
  
Legend of the Promised One  
Ancient Words  
  
Neri was used to just swimming to the other side of the island and Jobah would have flown, but neither was confidant with the other's transport. So they compromised and walked.  
The path went over the top of the island, a long climb. They stopped at the highest point to rest, and Neri looked down at the jagged beach below where rocks instead of sand met the water.  
"This is the place to launch gliders from." Jobah said, "Dangerous though. If you fell from this height hitting water would be just like hitting stone."  
Neri hadn't known this was possible.  
"What are the cavedwellers like? I don't think I've ever seen one."  
"They look... a little scary I guess. They have fur and they're big, taller than you. My friend Neanda has brown fur and Laziah has gray fur. They're all-all the cavedwellers I've met-all kind and gentle people."  
"Oceanna gets more interesting every moment. But I wondered," He paused to step around a rough bit in the trail, "Why do the native peoples of Oceanna let humans rule them?"  
"I don't know. The story goes, when Queen Tiara's mother came to the leaders of the three peoples to ask if humans could set up a small colony the leaders asked-insister-that many humans come and a human be the ruler."  
"They asked to be invaded."  
"I guess they did." Neri had never thought about it that way. Jobah was making her think about more new things than anyone she'd ever met before. A trill of approval reached her ears and Neri smiled. The sacred whale liked him too.  
They found Neanda in the library, restlessly pacing between the shelves. He had a pile of books already out and open on a table, and Micro was carrying another one over. The dog dropped his mouthful of book and went to bounce around Neri.  
"So that's where you went!"  
"He is a great help. Apologies for borrowing him without permission."  
"It's fine."  
Jobah gave the dog a pat. "He's a mobile computer right?"  
"Yes. A present to the princess from the mother world. You are the prince of Bandor aren't you?"  
"Yes."  
"I'm glad you've come. Neri needs a friend who is not blinded by the legend of the Promised One."  
"I'm not blinded." Neri argued, but thought Miya was blinding enough as herself even without the legend. "Just uncertain. She's so mysterious."  
Neanda closed a book. "You have seen the sacred whale. She is called Promised One. Be wary."  
"I know."  
"We will."  
Neri only then noticed what Neanda was looking at. Old copies of older prints; the originals dated back before humanity's first landing on Oceanna. The legend....  
The native peoples of Oceanna had known humans were coming, perhaps before the humans knew themselves. And they knew what would happen when the humans came. The simple pictures needed no explanation; the players barely needed names but Neri gave them. "That's Queen Tiara, my ancestor. That's Galiel."  
"He looks different." Jobah said.  
"He started out human. Did you see Galiel?"  
"Once, for a minute just before he blew up the old palace."  
"Blew up?"  
"Destroyed. Like fireworks, Doesn't Oceanna have those?"  
"Yes." Neri didn't get it.  
Neanda huffed a chuckle. "The people of Oceanna pride ourselves that we have forgotten the violent roots of the mother worlds, but Neri is childlike."  
Childlike? "We came because my uncle said he hasn't seen Laziah. Do you know if he's all right?"  
Neanda sighed, "That is my worry also. Laziash stays in his home with locked doors and gives few words to anyone who comes."  
"I'll go. He always talked to me." It was simply true; Laziah had been her parents' friend and since their deaths had been there for her in the times her uncle was too busy. "Neanda, come with me?"  
"No. I have tried already, and I may find some clue here."  
"All right." Neri got up to go and Jobah followed.  
"I'd like to see all of this world." He explained.  
The tunnels were wide enough for them to walk side by side.  
"This place has legends coming out of the very ground."  
"Not really." Neri said, "I lived my whole life until now without thinking about these things. Then Galiel came, Miya appeared, and everything went crazy. It's only been ten days." It felt more like years.  
"Is this the cavedwellers' city or what?"  
"I guess. They don't have buildings; it's an inverted city I suppose. But this is were the leader lives." They had come to a simple wooden door. Neri knocked and called out, "Laziah? It's Neri. Are you all right?"  
"Neri..." There was something different in Laziah's voice, a growling undertone that pulled the word out of shape. "I am well. Go, please."  
"Why? Open the door, I want to introduce you to Jobah."  
"There is... a beast in these tunnels. You are in danger."  
Jobah turned to face the way they had come, looking into the shadows of cross-passages. "There's nothing here."  
"The longer you stay, the more danger you are in. Go." Said Laziah's warped voice.  
It was not at all what Laziah would say. He would be concerned for his people, he would have ideas for dealing with the monster, he would not put himself in danger by staying or them in danger by locking them out... Truly frightened now, Neri rattled the latch. "You are not all right! Let me in!"  
"Go..."  
"Neri I don't think there's anything you can say to him."  
"You don't understand, this isn't right! This isn't the way people talk."  
Jobah was looking at her blankly. He really didn't understand. Different worlds, they were looking at each other across the distance between their worlds.  
Neri sighed, "All right."  
  
They had walked for five minutes and passed several passages when they heard movement behind them. A terrible smell wafted into the air.  
"What is that?"  
"The monster. Don't shoot it-let's just run!" They did, and made it back to the library without seeing the monster. Neri ran across to the speaker in the wall and shouted to everyone in the tunnels that there was a monster around. She heard a muted crash as a hundred doors slam shut and bolts slide into place.   
"Don't you have a book of animals?" Jobah asked, trying to catch his breath. "These things can't really be unknown!"  
Neanda had just calmly watched them burst in. There was nothing more they could do to warn the people so he took up the monster question. "I agree, they cannot be unknown. But those who knew did not tell."  
"The oldest secret." Neri blurted, suddenly remembering. "The oldest secret of Oceanna is so painful the sacred whale didn't want to speak of it."  
"Oldest... Secret." Neanda said thoughtfully. "I have not seen those words. I cannot tell."  
He sounded so worried. Neri said, "We'll find out, I promise. But... Laziah knew the monster was there! He didn't tell anyone?"  
"No."  
"He isn't well, Neanda. Something's really wrong."  
"That, I will try to find out. Laziah told me Galiel is on Oceanna, Galiel and the Lorelei."  
"Galiel is here." Jobah said coolly, "All of Oceanna won't be well soon."  
"Galiel..." Neanda rumbled, "We must find him, but what will we do then?"  
Neri didn't know. Ancient pictures danced before her eyes. Galiel, pale and spidery, the crystals, Tiara. Tiara died... and Galiel came back. Would the Promised One have to give her life away as well? The idea flickered into image: Miya falling away into a violent storm. She would be gone, and Neri didn't want that. "We'll get the crystals back, we have to."  
"What about Galiel?"  
"Let's figure that out when we have to."  
"Just remember someday we will have to. For now you humans should return to your own place for the evening meal."  
"Is it that late?" Neri looked for a clock, "It is."  
"Day's been more action than most months back home. Shall we go?"  
"Yes... we'll see you later Neanda."  
  
The palace was awhirl with its usual dinnertime cheer. Miya had returned at some point and was dressed up with silver ornaments over her white dress. She waved unenthusiastically when Neri and Jobah entered, and Jobah went over to talk to her. For a moment their faces, tilted together, looked alike. If Miya didn't have such icy pale skin....  
Neri headed for the food. Meals in the palace were buffets, so everyone of every race could get what they wanted. There were small tables and chairs scattered around-solidly built chairs for cavedwellers, cushions for amphibians, and the perch like seats the fliers liked.  
Shema's niece Mita was sitting with her best friend Ruki, their wings folded daintily. The other person at the table was a human girl named Emilee, who was visiting permanently from Earth. Her parents came and went from planet to planet writing news stories, but Emi stayed hear. She was fourteen years old and had a cheerful pug-nosed face. Neri waved, and went to sit with them.  
"Who is that guy Neri? He's cute!" This was Emi.  
Neri told them briefly who Jobah was and that he'd come to meet her.  
"Ah you're too lucky!"  
"She is the princess after all."  
"You're welcome to the job if you want it." Neri said between bites.  
"With monsters running around and that weird girl? No thanks!"  
"We saw monsters!" Ruki announced.  
"Two of them, in the sky. We stayed far away."  
Neri shuddered, "Stay far away! Please be careful."  
"No fear!" Emilee assured her, "I'm staying here in the palace until this is over or my parents come to take me back to Earth."  
"Back to earth?" The two fliers chorused.  
Neri was just as disturbed, "Emi, you can't just leave. I mean if people left a place because it has monsters nobody would live on Arcadia or Mirai or learn anything there."  
"Are you saying I'd run away?"  
"No...." Neri said, "It's just-"  
"Yes." Mita interrupted solidly and bit a carrot stick to make her point. "Unless your parents make you. Then it isn't."  
"Fair enough." Emilee admitted.  
"Fair."  
"Fair."  
Emi still grumbled, "I just wish someone knew what the monsters were. It wouldn't be as scary if we did."  
"The first one appeared..." When the crystal had been stolen. When Galiel took the first crystal the planet's axis had shifted and melted the icecaps. When the lorelei took the second crystal, monsters appeared-or would the axis shift again when Galiel took his prizes into space?   
"You look like your head hurts, princess."  
"It does. Too much thinking." Had Laziah known what his seeing glass really was? This day had been too long, if in good company. Neri finished her last bite and stood up, "I'm going to bed, my friends. Until tomorrow!"  
"Good night princess!"  
"Good night."  
Neri stopped to say good night to Jobah, who was deep in conversation with the king and looking very diplomatic. Miya was eating flavored ice with the enthusiasm of someone trying it for the first time. She gave Neri a surprising joyful smile. Neri grinned back.  
  
In her own room Neri took handfuls of water from the stream pouring down one wall and spilled it over her head. She was still thinking about the crystals. Tiara's daughters had hidden them, that was something to remember. They weren't just lost; they had been hidden by human hands. By human girls, Neri thought. By human hands....  
  
Later and Elsewhere...  
....  
....  
"Found it."  
"Where?"  
"The continent. Just there."  
"Where they could be used, even crippled as they were. How like them. How predictable."  
"Like... them? Is Neri too?"  
"Did she give you that name you have such pride in?"  
"No."  
  
  
  
  



	5. Legend of the Promised One 5

Disclaimer: Mediaworld's stuff is theirs.  
  
Legend of the Promised One  
A Day of Darkness  
  
"Princess! Princess!"  
Neri opened her eyes. Sunlight spilled on the floor; she'd slept late.  
"Princess!" The call wasn't impatient; it was frantic.  
"What's happened? I'm not up yet!"  
"Better get up."  
Neri did and pulled on the first clothes she found before running to the throne room. Everybody was there, people milling around speaking in grim voices.  
"Uncle? Neanda! What's happened? Is everyone all right?" Their faces told her no.  
King Nemon told her quietly, "This morning Laziah... threw himself off the cliff."  
It was as if the floor had melted and fallen away. "Why... Why?"  
"He did tell us." Neanda's voice was rough with pain. He held out one of Laziah's books.  
Neri took it and turned to the last page. The words were spiky, clumsily written. "Can you read it for me? Can someone?"  
Neanda took the book back and read. "My friends, I write to you in goodbye. The monster in the tunnels was myself. I do not know how this... illness is passed so this choice seems the best for protecting my people. Neanda will be the new leader of the cavedwellers.  
"Princess, forgive me for leaving you with more troubles and no answers.  
"I regret that I cannot help you all through the end of this legend but that is not to be. My life has been rich and I fear leaving it far less than I fear what may happen if I do not. All of you, I beg your forgiveness." The reading finished, everyone stood silent.  
Neri had to cry. She said, "Is there anything else?"  
"No..."  
"Then I will see you-later." Neri looked at her uncle, at Neanda, and fled.  
Back in her room Neri sat and hugged a pillow and tried not to think.  
The monsters are people.  
are people are people are people  
No...  
"Why didn't he just tell us? So we could help..."  
Miya's voice said, "No."  
Neri looked up to see the other girl standing in the window. "What?"  
"Once the transformation starts it can't be reversed. Your friend did the only honorable thing to protect those around him."  
"You said you didn't know anything."  
Miya flinched, "Nothing that could help. It's being angry that makes it happen. When people become monsters inside. The crystal stopped it but the crystal is gone."  
"I can't hear this now. Thank you for telling me but please just leave me alone now."  
"Of course. I just wanted you not to feel guilty." Miya said stiffly. She stepped off the balcony. Neri rushed to the window but as long as she looked Miya didn't come up for air.  
"Enough..." Neri choked and slumped down against the warm stone, tears coming.  
Enough.  
  
It was late afternoon when Neri rejoined the rest of the world. Business was doing its best to go on as usual.  
"Neri, are you all right now?"  
"For now." Neri dipped a curtsey to her uncle. "Has anything else happened?"  
"No. The memorial will be tonight of course."  
"I have more to tell you. Miya told me this... changing disease is caused by anger. The crystal protected everyone until it was taken. Miya said when people get so angry they become like monsters inside, now they'll change outside too. And there's no cure."  
"There has to be, and we will find it." King Nemon told her, "The wizards are searching for an answer now."  
"Thank goodness."  
Zardor and a group of his people came to bow to Neri and offer their condolences. Neri shook her head, "Please don't keep back your problems because of my sorrow. We continue living."  
But no one presented any disasters. As they left Zardor said, "You sound like a little queen at last, but you'd look more like one with your mother's scepter."  
"He's right. You should begin to carry it."  
"All right." Neri said. The last time she carried her mother's scepter it had been almost as tall as she was. "Uncle, where did Miya come from? You presented her as the Promised One but how did you know?"  
"She appeared here, when I came in the morning. I thought she was lost but she said she was waiting."  
"Did she prove it? Did she do any miracles?"  
"I could hardly have asked her to. Besides, it has never been said that the Promised One has any special gifts."  
"Miya has gifts. But I don't know what she really is. She frightens me."  
"I believe she'll save us."  
"I'll try to believe." Neri smiled, the expression coming without conscious thought. "I want to get something, I'll be right back."  
"Neri, we have to help this legend happen as well as we can. I fear I'm not wise enough, but you might be."  
"I'm not." Chilled, Neri left.  
  
Her room had a big closet, too big for the few clothes Neri really wore. She crawled under a row of hanging gowns to get to the boxes in the back. Here were the toys of her childhood, her dolls and game boards and costumes. The scepter's box was under boxes of toys. She brought it out to her bedroom open, where there was more space and less smell of the wood chips that kept the gowns fresh.  
The scepter was as long as her arm, made of dark wood glazed with gold dust. It was carved with a simple ball on the bottom and the eight-spoked wheel of the year on top. A cord tied just under the wheel held a plain gold ring and a pearl charm. Neri lifted the ring to read her mother's name from the inside. Queen Dian's promise ring and a white pearl from earth. Neri resolved to add her own charms someday.  
She spent the afternoon dancing through daily palace activities. The cavedwellers were completely absent, and everyone else acted subdued. People brought maps of new islands and argued their claims, organized expeditions to look for treasure in the old sunken cities or demanded the palace guard's help clearing out nests of stinging eels. Jobah came and sat with Neri and they chatted and compared their planets.  
When Miya came everyone bowed to her, as they should to the most important person on the planet. Neri considered bowing too, but settled on offering Miya her seat. Miya shook her head and sat at Neri's feet.  
"What is this? A key?"  
"The royal scepter. It was my mother's and her mother's back a lot of generations."  
"Pretty. Could I see it?"  
"Sure."  
Miya toyed with the scepter, turning it in her pale hands.  
"It's supposed to have a secret compartment." Neri offered, "But I've never been able to open it."  
Food was starting to appear and Neri got up to get some. She was glad this day was almost over; her heart hurt terribly. She hadn't lost anyone since her parents died, and she hardly knew hw to feel sad.  
When Neri sat down again Miya handed her the scepter. The knob at the end had come off, swinging to one side on a hidden hinge. Neri saw the shaft was hollow and a bit of paper was visible.  
"Don't worry. I didn't look at it." Miya said calmly.  
"How did you know how to open it?"  
"I don't know. I just did."  
Jobah said, "She really didn't look at it."  
Neri sighed and ate her dinner. What else could she do?  
  
The King waited up until most everybody had gone home. Neri waited too to be polite, and Jobah stayed with her. Miya had found a broom and was helping clean the floor.  
"I usually help out, but she doesn't seem like a person who would." Neri said, her fingers easing the paper out. It didn't feel like what books were written on and Neri realized it was old paper-earth paper.  
Next to her, Jobah put his hands over his eyes. "Tell me if I can see it."  
The roll of paper crumbled at the edges but the middle held. It was a map, clear and simple as the ancient drawings, that showed the hiding places of the three crystals and the ancient temple. Neri said, "You can look."  
"Is that important?" Of course Jobah didn't know what he was looking at.  
"There's not another copy of this, anywhere! Look!"  
Jobah took a better look. "Hide it! You don't know who you can trust. Dear God, how do you know you can trust me?"  
Neri gently let the map roll itself back up. "Sorry to sound like Miya, but I just know."  
"Thank you. I don't know about this legend but if I can help just ask."  
Neri looked down, then back up. "How far can the gliders go? And how fast?"  
Jobah told her.  
"Can we leave tomorrow?"  
"Of course. You want to get to the crystal before Galiel does, right?"  
"Yes, and hope the sacred whale can think of a hiding place he won't find it, because I can't! Ah... the memorial is going on now, they're always at night. Humans can't attend."  
"I wondered why you hadn't gone."  
"I was going to wait up all night, but if we're flying tomorrow..."  
"You'd better not."  
"Laziah would understand. I can respect later."  
They looked at each other, understanding across the gulf between planets.  
  
Later and elsewhere...  
"It is tiring, being their legend. I am not real am I?"  
"Nobody is yet. There are no heroes and villains, no legends... until it's all finished down to the final page."  
"Is that true?"  
"I don't know. It is what I'd like to believe."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. Legend of the Promised One 6

Disclaimer: Mediaworld's stuff is theirs. No money is being made. Suing innocent fangirls is bad karma.   
  
Legend of the Promised One  
Shatter  
  
The continent looked like a low cloud across the horizon. Their destination was on the western coast, not quite a straight fly from the palace, but not too far off. Neri had recognized the location on the map: the fliers' healing temple. It had a magic window that transformed sunlight into a beam that made flesh heal, cells regenerate. Ruki had talked about it once-real stained glass from earth and the most magnificent building! -but Neri had never been there. The crystal wouldn't be safe with nobody knowing it had to be protected.  
Neri's leg cramped and she winced. Crouching over the glider used a different set of muscles than swimming and she hurt....  
  
What a beautiful building.  
Miya brushed her hand over the white marble wall. The window in the ceiling looked broken already; shards held together with strips of copper colored metal. It threw broken shapes on the floor, turning the evening light to red and blue and Oceanna's clear blue-green. It was almost too beautiful to destroy, but it was only beauty. Miya stepped into the center where the crystal threw white light on the floor, looking for a weak spot, the best place to hit to shatter the whole thing. A red-orange piece caught her eye and she saw a coliseum of natural stone towers. A blue piece, and clear wind blew in her face from a strange sky.  
She shook her head and tried to focus. She was used to seeing places she'd never been, but not used to them leaping before her eyes. The crystal didn't heal at all, just made dreams. Miya pulled out her gun and aimed past a vision of people shouting. She'd never fired a gun before, but she'd dreamed of someone teaching her.  
The shot echoed. Glass showered down without touching her, and made a new pattern. The crystal drifted down into her arms glowing reflected sunlight.  
Glass, even pieces too small to see, slid aside in front of her feet as she walked out. The temple was just above the beach so she only had to walk straight out. People were coming; she could hear them shouting but they were too far away. She didn't have to hurry. The water was up to her chest now and the crystal was heavy, dragging down her arms. She dived.   
  
It looked like nothing was wrong except for the crowd outside, a crowd just now gathering. Something had happened and they had missed it by a minute. Then Neri saw the window.  
"What's that?"  
"We're too late!" Neri shouted and swung down to talk to the people. They shouted and waved, surprised to see their princess flying. Neri yelled, "Who was it? Did you see?"  
"A human! None of us was close enough!"  
"Black and white!"  
"Went into the water, I was about to follow-"  
The clamor stopped. Jobah shouted, "Neri!"  
Neri turned to look. Something huge was rising out of the sea under the setting sun. It looked like a dome, a bubble of green glass with spidery legs underneath. It hovered there dripping and watching them. The silence seemed total.  
Neri yanked the glider around by force and hit the engine, throwing herself upward.  
Jobah yelled, "Neri! Idiot!" And followed.  
It was bigger even than it looked; the palace could have fit in the dome. Neri flitted around trying to find a door, a window, anything. The glass threw back layers of reflections and she couldn't see through. She stopped and hovered, looking harder. A face shifted into view, a dead white face half obscured by heavy shadows.  
Neri shrieked and rocked back, then looked again. There was no face, no way she could have seen anything there. She leaned forward and shouted, "Return it. Return it!"  
"Neri get out of there!"  
"No!" Neri leaned and slid sideways. Nothing but green glass and black metal. "Show yourself and talk to me! Do-you-know-what-you've-done!"  
There was a low roar and the air suddenly was not supporting her wings. She tumbled, caught her balance, lost it again, and fell. She had time to wonder if this was high enough that the water would be like stone.  
Promised One!  
She hit the water hard but straight and kept falling for long minutes before she could turn and swim for the surface.  
The ship was gone. Jobah was circling low over the water, looking for her. Neri jumped as high as she could and waved. "Over here! I'm all right!"  
"That was a holy stupid thing to do! I can't believe you didn't break your neck!" Jobah glared at her for a minute then said, "Your glider came up over there, go get it."  
Not sure whether she felt more annoyed or more guilty at his anger, Neri ducked under far enough to see the glider floating as a shadow on the surface. She got to it and took off in a V of spray. There was nothing they could do but go back to shore.  
  
Neri had to land in the water; she hadn't gotten the trick of jumping off and catching the glider before it got away. She waded onto the beach and wondered if she should say anything. Best to apologize at least. "I'm sorry I scared you. Going up there was stupid. I thought I'd be able to see in, for what that's worth."  
Jobah gave her a sidelong glance like he knew practiced humility when he saw it. "And could you?"  
"No. That was Galiel, himself in there, wasn't it?"  
"Yes."  
Neri had known but now, really thinking about Galiel watching her through the glass gave her the shakes. If that monster hadn't known who she was, he did now. But the monsters are people and Galiel is....  
"What are we going to do tonight?"  
"Find a person and ask where we can stay for the night. There are lots of places for people who come to see the temple."  
"Didn't think you'd been here."  
"I haven't. Ruki and Emi told me."  
They walked toward the lights of a town, carrying the gliders. Neri really wondered for the first time how Galiel knew where the crystals were. There were no maps... Neri's map had been drawn by Tiara's daughters after Galiel left Oceanna for the last time. So how did he find them?  
"Jobah, do mediums ever have the ability to find lost things?"  
"Sometimes. I have it; I flew to find animals on Bandor, to get an idea of how many there were."  
"So your sister-is telling Galiel where the crystals are?"  
"Could be."  
`"It's Miya... no, couldn't be. She can breathe water and only people born on Oceanna can do that."  
"My sister Mera and your Promised One look different anyway. You could try asking her who she is, next time we see her."  
"She never answered that question before."  
  
They did find a place to stay, a house that had been inherited by a widow and her small daughter. The house was far too large for two so they rented out the upper rooms and served food below. They didn't realize for half the evening who Neri was, then they came and bowed and said they were at her service. Neri said continuing their normal evening was fine.  
"I think you've got an admirer." Jobah said, watching the little girl flutter around the eating room like a moth.  
"I know. Would you mind if I invited her to sit with us?"  
"Go ahead. You're paying."  
So Neri waved, "Miss, join us?"  
"Um, really? Sure! My name is Sarah. What's it like being the princess, really?"  
"Well living in the palace is nice and I have a lot of friends, but being the princess is a lot of hard decisions and things, it's pretty scary. And it's lots of hard work!"  
"No way!"  
"Truly!"  
So they talked and Jobah sat back and listened, speaking only to say yes, they could all try a little flying in the morning. He only smiled mysteriously when Sarah asked where he was from with an accent like that.  
  
"Princess? Are you awake?" Sara's voice called.  
Neri was, and was discovering her cramped muscles hurt even more the next morning. She wanted to just flop out and sleep all day! "I'm up."  
"The king wants to talk to you. I think something bad's happening."  
"What?" Neri opened the door, "Where can I talk to him?"  
"I'll show you. Your friend is downstairs having breakfast."  
Jobah looked very surprised to see a perfectly modern computer in a cabinet.  
"Uncle?"  
King Nemon looked old, and no little frightened. "The fliers have gone mad, Neri. Shema said she was 'taking back the planet' before she left, and there are crowds of them gathering. I don't know whether you should come back or fly as far away as you can."  
Neri felt horror, then anger. How dare they, the day after a death? "I'm coming back. I have to try and stop them."  
"I'm not sure-"  
"Where's Miya? What's she doing?"  
"Trying to talk to them."  
"It will be evening before we reach you, but we're on our way." The call clicked off from the other end and Neri, free of the need to look confidant, staggered and groaned.  
"Hey, you all right?" Jobah asked, looking concerned.  
"Bright Lady, my legs hurt! Those great flying machines have an evil side! But I'll recover. Sarah, we'll have breakfast then we have to leave."  
"Ok!" Sarah dashed off.  
Neri ate while walking around and around the room, and apologized to Sarah for canceling their flying.  
"It's ok. You have to save the world!"  
Jobah looked down at her, "It takes more than one person to save the world. Works a lot better if everybody helps."  
"Oh!"  
"You help by hiding if any monsters appear, ok? You're part of the world so you should get saved too."  
"Right!" Sarah nodded hard and went off to say hello to some people coming in.  
"That was a good speech." Neri said and finished her last two bites.  
"It was true. Ready?"  
"Let's go."  
  
The trip back took less time; they ran the engines without mercy and even the wind seemed to know just how they needed to go.  
The fliers swarmed above the palace, sitting on the brass domes and fluttering above them. Their voices sounded harsh.  
"Like they've declared war on all earthbound. But they still look like themselves." Jobah stood balanced, holding a telescope to his eye.  
"Go and land, you can't help me. I'll talk to them."  
"Ok, but be careful."  
Neri turned up, let the glider take her right to the cloud. She set her feet and spread her arms free. "Shema! Shema it's Neri! Talk to me!"  
They rose up in swirls dark over the sea. Neri fought to hold the glider steady. It was all she could do to stay airborne in this tornado of wings and beaks that swept too close but never touched her.  
Another deep breath, "Stop this! You'll all change, do you understand? You'll change like Laziah did! Whatever you gain, you'll die! Like-he-did!"  
By the end she was screaming, clutching the bars of the glider as it wavered dangerously. Then the fliers were leaving. Gone.  
For a dizzy moment Neri stopped caring and wished she could simply fall. She was so tired. The glider disagreed and circled down to hit the water nose-first. It floated but Neri was tossed in and let herself sink. Already she was questioning.  
"They knew already! They knew! I only said what they knew! Why did it stop them?"  
At least you brought peace.  
You did.  
"But I was too late. Galiel has three of them, what can I do?"  
The sacred whale was not afraid. All she said was, your friends are looking for you.  
Neri opened her eyes. She saw a swirl of black and white above her. Miya. "Miya!" She called, reaching up.  
Their hands met. "I was afraid." Miya said, "I tried to fix it, but it was nothing! Like everything I said was nothing!"  
"It's all right now. They're gone, I think they won't try again. Let's go home, we have to find everyone."  
"Yes." Miya took off, graceful as a fish, perfectly at home in the water.  
Jobah was waiting to help both girls out of the water. "No one was even hurt! What did you say?"  
"Only things-they knew." Neri coughed, breathing water and air at once. She was glad for Jobah's strong hands helping her up. "I don't know what I did."  
"Whatever it was it was brave."  
Well if fear was a measure of how brave something was, then it had been brave. Neri pushed her wet hair out of her eyes. "Let's go in. I want to see my uncle, and Neanda, and eat something, and-where's my dog?"  
"He must not know you've returned." Miya said, smiling.  
They went in, the three of them. The palace was eerily silent. Neri guessed everyone must be hiding.  
"Princess!" Emilee appeared and flung herself at Neri like a much younger child. "I was so scared! Where did Mita and Ruki go?"  
"We'll have to find them." Neri said, hoping they'd be able to.  
"She didn't do anything!"  
Miya flinched.  
"She's a fake, Princess." Emi said solemnly.  
"Whoa, Emi, enough. Miya tried hard."  
"You know she's fake, and I don't forgive her!"  
Emi's anger grated and Neri didn't know what to say so she retreated to a standby. "The Lady forgives her and so do I."  
"Hmmf." Emilee wasn't impressed by a platitude.  
"Miya don't listen, she's scared like everyone."  
"I know."  
Jobah went on ahead, being polite or else just not wanting to get into their fighting. Emilee stomped after him, and Miya went silent. Neri almost laughed; she'd stopped a war ten minutes ago and now she couldn't keep her own friends civil. She missed Neanda's steady wisdom terribly. Having only humans around just wasn't right....  
Micro sat outside the door of the throne room, playing guard dog. His ears perked up and he forgot his post to bounce around Neri's feet, saying he'd been good and noble the whole time.  
"I'm sure you were." Neri looked up. Here were the people. Neanda stood talking to two of his own folk; he didn't see her. Of course, Neanda was the leader of his people now. Things would change between them.  
A hum went around the room when Neri entered; many bowed but no one came close to her. Were they afraid? She hadn't done anything. She didn't even understand what had happened. When they asked, she would say so.  
"Neanda? Please, ask me what happened out there...."  
  
  
  



	7. Legend of the Promised One 7

Disclaimer: Nerichan's lovely purple hair belongs to Mediaworld and is being used and restyled without permission. No money is being made and no copyright infringement is intended.  
  
Legend of the Promised One  
You and I in the Sea  
  
Neri was on her way out after an uncomfortable hour in the throne room when a voice rumbled behind her, "Neri could I speak with you?"  
"Of course Neanda. I wanted to see you. With all that's happened, are you all right?"  
"I am... well enough."  
The halls were quiet; everyone was either in the throne room or at home. Neri wondered how late it was.  
"While you were gone I had a strange conversation with Miya."  
'Miya' not 'Promised One.' "Oh?"  
"I chanced to ask her age, and she told me 'fourteen months.'"  
"Huh?"  
"She sounded quite serious. Then she said she was born from an egg and had no mother or father. I am not sure she is well in her mind."  
Neri half-smiled, "You didn't remind her that by the laws of nature humans don't come from eggs?"  
"I did not know what to say then, or what to make of it now."  
"I don't know either. She's so strange. I don't know who she is. Mandrool told me to protect her..." Neri wavered, exhausted. "I can't think anymore, I'm too tired."  
A clawed hand curled around her shoulder, and Neri leaned in to her friend's warm side.  
  
In the morning she woke late, glad to be able to wander out of sleep at her own pace instead of with someone shouting for her. She'd dreamed of an egg made of sea-green glass, breaking, pieces floating apart and Miya waking up inside. What did it mean?  
A vague memory stirred, something she'd seen on the computer. Pictures of people in eggs, only these eggs were filled with some medical fluid. Earthquake victims, Neri remembered, with terrible burns. But a new treatment like that couldn't have made it off Earth yet. Neri couldn't remember any more.  
Micro came in the flap in the door, jumped on the bed, and barked. Clearly he thought it was time to get up.  
"Quiet, Micro, I'm up. Off the bed with your wet paws!"  
Micro grumbled that Neri got on the bed with her feet wet often enough. He bounced on and off, wrinkling the sheets and getting salty pawprints on everything while Neri tried to straighten her bed.  
Clouds had blown in overnight and Neri heard the wind change and rain spattered on the roof of her room. It was so like a normal day Neri found herself thinking of normal activities. "Shall we go fishing today or try and clear out that nest of stinging eels Zardor was complaining about? Or just read in the library with Neanda?"  
Micro growled his dislike of stinging eels; the things had electric shockers as well as a mild poison in their tails, and could cause as much discomfort to Micro as to a living person. But if there was a nest near the amphibians' town somebody had to uproot it before the children were endangered.  
"Ok, not today. They'll be wild with the lightning anyway."  
Creating wings, Micro flapped into the air. "Woof?"  
"No, we can't go flying if there's lightning." Neri stepped onto her balcony. There were still blue patches to the sky, but they were closing fast. It was going to be a gray, breezy day and the air smelled wonderful, like salt and rain-bruised leaves.  
"Let's go find Miya and Jobah and see what they're doing and get breakfast ok?"  
"Arf!"  
  
Miya was tucked in a corner of the kitchen next to the warm oven, uncaring of soot stains on her white satins. She was eating a pastry with single-minded delight.  
"Morning, Miya."  
"Good morning Princess. This is delicious!"  
Neri went to get one for herself, and praise the cook, before coming back to sit with Miya. For a few minutes they both concentrated on their food. Neri glanced down. Miya's green eyes drooped half closed with pleasure, as if she'd never tasted anything so good. Maybe she hadn't, if she was only just over a year old. She looked no more than a few years younger than Neri, if that. Neri opened her mouth, but shut it without saying anything. Miya looked so happy, childlike, and Neri didn't want to spoil her pleasure.  
After finishing her last bite Miya stood up and brushed crumbs off her skirt. "I'm going swimming."  
"Wait, I'll come."  
"Ah...."  
"Not if you don't want me to."  
"You are welcome to come with me... I thought I'd try to find the temple under the sea."  
"Why do you want to go there?" Neri asked.  
"No one has been to that place in two thousand years. Isn't it where this... legend... began?"  
"Let's go." Neri smiled and held out her hand. She knew where the temple was, at least generally from her map, but she wouldn't tell Miya that. They'd just 'find' it.  
Strangely, it seemed like Miya knew where they were going as well. They stumbled over each other suggesting new directions and finding new paths. The way was long, past the cove and the reef, down deep.  
Finally Neri's image of the path gave out and she was left wondering if the sea floor had shifted and closed the way. "I'm lost..."  
Miya dove into a forest of tall seaweed, pulling herself through it clumsily. There was a tunnel leading further down, cut into what looked like a blank cliff face.   
It was dark in the hole; Miya was just a white shape ahead.  
"Are you all right?"  
"Fine." Miya said. She was breathing hard  
Neri's eyes adjusted and she saw the neon blue fish nibbling something off the rocks. At least they wouldn't hit the walls. Miya was already going on ahead.  
They came out all at once on a perfectly round bowl of sand like the crater of an ancient volcano. The surface was visible, straight up and as far away as a sky. And there was the temple, the shape of a fish's head still whole and perfect. Its empty eyes watched them. The sacred whale sang a welcome.  
Miya gasped in surprise, then she was choking, bent double, trying to breathe water that suddenly rejected her.  
"Miya!" Neri grabbed her friend and pulled for the surface. But they were too deep. Miya wasn't going to make it. Neri breathed in water, tasted clean air in her chest, and leaned down to push her mouth to Miya's. Their eyes met, Neri's desperate, Miya's wide and stunned at the gift of air.  
They came up into a world of rain and waves mixing and lightning spraying the sky. Neri fought frantically to keep Miya's head above water. The other girl hung limp in her arms, not even trying.  
"Miya! Miya!"  
With a shriek, Miya seemed to wake up and started fighting. But it was like she'd never learned to swim.  
"Miya? We can't stay here! Lightning!"  
"Have to go back-there-the temple-but I'll drown!" Miya got out. Her arms tightened around Neri's shoulders, "Help me! Neri!"  
Save me!   
The words hit like lightning. "I will!" Neri shouted above the wind.  
They dived, Neri swimming and Miya just hanging on. Neri gave her every other breath and they hung mid-water, sinking, watching lightning flicker over the surface.  
Miya broke away and swam for the temple. Neri followed. She saw Miya sitting curled up, holding something to her chest-no. There was nothing there.  
"Thank you for helping me, princess."  
"You're all right now."  
Miya was sitting curled in the pillar that had held the crystals, that was what it must be. Boulders of rock and coral lay around the floor, and from inside Neri could see that the temple hadn't survived the ravages of time and tide as well as it looked from farther away.  
"What happened to you?"  
"It... is a blood disease. I thought it was past with my childhood but I see not. I have not been struck that way in years."  
"A blood disease? From your parents?"  
Miya shook her head, "Singly they do not have it. We lived on the continent though, so I did not have to swim."  
"I didn't know you had any family."  
"Yes. I miss them but they asked me to come here and do what I must, and to think of them no more until I was done. Where are your mother and father, Neri?"  
"They passed when I was very small."  
"Ah."  
Neri felt vibration and turned quickly. She saw nothing living but sensed eyes on her. "Are there monsters here?"  
"No. Not here."  
Neri turned full circle, looking at each rock and weed and stand of coral. No one was there. "This place is dead."  
"You're right. There is nothing here. Shall we go back?"  
"All right." Neri said, eager to get out of this strange place. Something was watching them, certainly.  
Miya was unconcerned and took her time leaving. Outside, she looked back. "It is ancient, not dead. It can come back to life." She flicked her feet and headed away, graceful again as if she'd never been struck by her disease.  
"Miya!"  
"Yes?"  
"How old are you?"  
"Fifteen years and four months. How old are you?"  
"Seventeen years and two months."  
And later, as they neared the palace,  
"Neri?"  
"Hm?"  
"Thank you for saving my life."  
"I'll always try to protect you. You're the Promised One."  
"Princess, I'm..."  
"What?"  
"I know something important. The fourth crystal... Galiel can't find it. The way he found the others can't find this one. It's safe where it is."  
"Oh!" was all Neri could say. She didn't ask how Miya knew. That was good, at least she and Jobah wouldn't have to fly across the planet again to get the last crystal. But if Galiel couldn't find it, what then would he do?  
"Let's go home."  
  
Later and elsewhere...  
"Nothing. It is in some kind of shield, I think. I cannot find it however I try."  
"It is not your fault."  
"What will we do?"  
"The only thing we can."  
"Only... please..."  
"What?"  
"Please don't hurt the princess. She is kind."  
....  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Legend of the Promised One 8

Disclaimer: Mediaworld's stuff belongs to them. No copyright infringement is intended. No animals were harmed in the making of this fanfic.  
  
Legend of the Promised One  
Demons in From Every Side  
  
The storm had blown itself out that night and Neri and Jobah spent the next day roaming the island and the sky and helping the fliers repair their town, which had been damaged on their day of madness and worse in the storm. The fliers were starting to reappear. Shema had come to the palace to apologize, then vanished again. Neri had seen friends she knew, but not Mita or Ruki and she was a little worried. Emilee was still verbally sniping at Miya whenever they were in the same room. Miya was still gracefully ignoring her.  
This day had been spent with her uncle, making like a princess. Jobah and Neanda had holed up in the library studying the legend and trying to think what they should do next against Galiel. Now it was finally evening and Neri and Jobah were sitting together eating and talking.  
"Look at Miya, she's being a waitress today."  
"What's a waitress?" Neri asked, "No, I know. A person who brings drinks. I think she helped the cooks today too."  
"Figured her out yet?"  
"Not a clue." Neri put down her empty plate and sat back. Soon someone else would come to talk to the princess and they'd have to stop the silly banter.  
Jobah stood and stretched, and took the clip out of his hair so he could retie it. He looked down at Neri, "I really like it here. I like knowing you and Neanda."  
Surprised, Neri could only say, "I'm glad. I like knowing you too."  
Since he was up, Jobah went to put their plates away.  
Neri sat thinking. She had burned the map, hating to destroy something so old and precious but unable to let it remain. If Galiel couldn't find the crystal his way, the map was another choice for him. Now Neri was the only person who knew.  
"Tea?" Miya offered. Jobah was following her, already holding his cup.  
"Sure, thanks." Neri's first sip left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she drank more to cover it.  
Quiet spread across the room. Neri turned to see what was wrong. Time stretched and it seemed to take hours.  
Jobah said, "Oh God." And Neri heard his cup hit the floor. People were falling down all over the room. What was going on?  
"Miya? What's... happening..?" She fell back in her chair, felt Miya's hand under her chin and a cup held to her lips. With Miya holding her neck she had no choice but to drink and moments later everything faded to black.  
  
Neri dreamed of drowning and had one of the worst awakenings of her life. Her head pounded and her eyes wouldn't clear. She stood, fell back again with a groan, and tried again.  
Someone was watching. Neri's blurred eyes saw a galaxy in front of her, a beautiful spiral of stars. As she reached for it her head cleared and she jolted into lucidity.  
The three crystals, one clear, one smoky, one almost black, spun in the air before her.  
Beyond them Galiel sat calmly on her uncle's throne. He looked like a monster, like a corpse, age-stained skin falling in over bones. Mad violet eyes watched her from a face set in permanent sour lines.  
"Galiel." Neri tasted the name. A person's name, unsuited to his face.  
"Princess Neri."  
"What have you done to everyone?"  
"They will recover."  
"Why... why are you doing this?" On the last word she saw Miya, sitting at Galiel's feet just as she'd sat at Neri's. She didn't look up.  
"I need the fourth crystal. Will you get it for me?"  
Neri felt a warm living hand curl around hers. Jobah said, "The answer is no, right?"  
"Right!" Neri was glad to have him, but wished she knew where Neanda was and could hardly keep herself from shouting to Miya.  
Galiel didn't answer, only looked pointedly over their heads. People and monsters were crowded there, all still, looking dazed. They were changing, from person to beast. Neri couldn't stand it. "Uncle? Neanda? Neanda!" She broke away from Jobah and ran toward the crowd, shouting her friend's name. Nothing mattered more than finding her people. Why hadn't Neanda answered? He always answered her, always. Her friend, her knight, the other half of her heart... "Neanda!"  
Dark bulk loomed over her. She saw the red eyes and tusks of a monster. Then she saw the features behind them and fell back. "No." She was backing up and the creature that had been Neanda followed.  
"Are you sure you won't help me?" The desiccated voice sounded almost amused.  
"I'm sure. You took Laziah's life... Neanda's... you can't have Oceanna!"  
"I see." Galiel said, then louder, "Kill her."  
The monster's red eyes narrowed. Neri realized she was going to die, right here, torn apart by her best friend. She stopped and stood straight, holding out her arms, forgiving, almost glad.   
She closed her eyes and waited.  
But the next thing she felt was the warm pressure of arms around her waist and satiny hair brushing her arm.  
"No." Miya said simply, "Please. No."  
Neri rested one hand on Miya's hair and held out the other. "Neanda."  
The red eyes flickered, blinked, and opened deep brown. Neanda laid his hand gently on Neri's.  
"Neri," Miya whispered, "Your friend is changing. There is nothing we can do. But if the last crystal is brought-the four of them together-might be able to save him."  
Neri could feel Galiel's eyes on them. She shoved Miya away. "Don't touch me! I'll get the crystal."  
"No, you shouldn't!"  
"No, Neri." Neanda growled.  
Couldn't they see she didn't have a choice? "Neanda, please... just stay alive until I come back. Until we know if there's hope or not. All right?"  
"All right."  
Neri could only hope. She turned back to Galiel. "I'll get the crystal, if I can go. And you have to do one more thing. Tell me who Miya is."  
The corpse eyes looked at her for a long moment. "Come here, princess. This form is not so hideous you cannot look at it."  
Neri went to him, leaving her friends standing around the room and Miya on the floor, sitting where Neri had pushed her in a tangle of satin skirts. Neri glanced at her and felt sorry, then looked up to meet Galiel's eyes. A person's eyes, but for the unearthly color and fever light. He had four arms, Neri realized, real arms that hung useless and metal built-arms that moved. Neri almost asked if it was worth living the way he was. She almost, simply, asked if it was painful. But she had no time to pity him. "Tell me."  
"Your Miya is the princess of Bandor. Didn't her brother guess?"  
"She isn't!" Jobah said.  
"I'm not!"  
Galiel ignored both of them. "She was badly hurt when Bandor's palace collapsed, and was years recovering. Healing and time changed her looks I suppose, and my best efforts could not restore her memory."  
Miya's face was paler than Neri had ever seen it and her eyes were totally blank. She was hearing this for the first time.  
"But why? Why save her? Why take her?" Neri demanded, not sure which question was right.  
"A hundred reasons princess! I am not such a monster I could not care for a brave nameless girl!"  
"I see. Thank you for saving her. I'll go now, but it will take a few days to fly to the island and back. Wait for me." Galiel watched her expressionless; Neanda wouldn't look at her.  
"I'm coming with you." Jobah said.  
Galiel waved them to go, and the two of them walked out.  
In the hallway, free from the stare of those violet eyes, Neri realized her hands were shaking. All the symptoms of fear swept over her like a tide and she stumbled.  
"Neri..?"  
"No! I'm not all right! He's killing Neanda, he'll kill everyone!"  
Jobah put an arm around her for comfort. "He won't. Get hold of yourself and we'll find a way to stop it."  
Neri breathed and tried to get over her fear. She was still alive, they were all still alive. They weren't helpless.  
Footsteps ran behind them and a voice called, "Neri?"  
"Miya..." Neri murmured as the girl in white appeared.  
"Neri doesn't want to see you. Go away."  
But Neri couldn't ignore the awful lost look on Miya's face. "Don't go away. Talk to me."  
"C-can I come with you? Please?"  
Neri sighed. "Of course."  
"Have you forgotten she's been Galiel's spy all this time? She stole the crystals for him and she drugged us-and everybody else-last night!"  
At the mention of time all three of them turned to look out the windows and see what time it was. It was still dark.  
"I didn't forget and I don't forgive her, but she's hurt too."  
"I doubt it. She's begging so sweetly so she can make sure we do just what that monster says and nothing else."  
"He's not a monster!" Miya cried, "He's been kind to me, all my life!"  
"And now he's trying to destroy this planet, Neri, and everyone else. You'd better have a good think about which side you want to be on!"  
Neri let them be and walked outside, where the sky was beginning to lighten. It didn't feel like dawn, didn't feel like any time at all. The people in the other cities, on the other islands, on the continent, they didn't know anything was wrong. For them it was only morning.  
"Neri?" Jobah said quietly, "I still have my gun. I could put an end to this."  
"No."  
"Your choice. But if it comes to defending one of us I will shoot him."  
"All right. Let's wait until it gets light; I don't trust myself to fly in the dark without hitting anything." Neri leaned on the bronze wall and slid down to sit on the floor.  
"Where are we going?"  
"An island, half again as far as from here to the continent. I don't know what makes it different from the hundred other islands in the chain, but... that's where the crystal is."  
Miya smiled, "Whatever made it different from the other mountains in the range it was before the tide." Then she dropped her eyes, "I don't know anything."  
"Were you finding the crystals for Galiel?" Neri asked.  
"Yes. If you had known would you have let me drown?"  
Neri thought about that. "No. I liked you, I really did, even if the sacred whale hadn't told me to take care of you. Should we call you Mera now?"  
"I'll keep the name you gave me."  
"I gave you?"  
"You said my name should be the girl at the gate so I named myself Himemiya... it means about the same, I think."  
Jobah said, "I think it does. It's one of the languages we use on Bandor but I can't translate without a dictionary."  
"Then you called me Miya."  
"Your real name is Princess Mera. I didn't know the right name then. And you have a mother and father who love you and a brother who came all the way across the stars to find you."  
Jobah gave her an ironic little smile. Miya didn't answer.  
Looking out at the water, Neri could see clearly the spires of the palace. Clouds in the east were sparkling pink. She stood up. "Let's go."  
  
Minutes later they were jetting out low over the water. When the sun warmed the ocean there would be better winds. Miya rode with Neri, arms around her waist, head tucked against Neri's back.  
"Wait for me." Neri whispered, looking back. She had so little hope, and no plan, and Neanda thought this was going to be the destruction of all Oceanna.  
  



	9. Legend of the Promised One 9

  
Disclaimer: for great justice, no copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made. Characters belong to Mediaworld.   
  
Legend of the Promised One  
Crystal of the Revalie  
  
They had landed on a random island so Neri could look at the new map she'd brought and they could all have lunch. This was the second day, and they were getting close.  
Miya waded out of the water, her hands full of clustered seaweed pods, "Here you go everyone!"  
"Thanks." Neri took a bunch, holding it in one hand and a pencil in the other.  
Jobah was sitting on a rock where he could look over Neri's shoulder. "Do you know where we are on that map?"  
"Yes." Neri put a star on the island where they were and another where they were going. "We're close. I just had to stop and get my bearings. And eat!"  
Jobah grimaced at the cluster of pods, "I keep expecting these things to taste like grapes but they're salty and they squeak on my teeth."  
"I like the squeaking. What's a grape?"  
"I guess Oceanna doesn't have enough land to grow them."  
"We don't have enough land to grow anything fancy, even if they would grow on Oceanna. I'd like to visit the other planets someday." Then it hit her, again. "How can I be talking about this when-everyone's-"  
"We're only human, we have to rest and eat."  
Neri got up and walked to the water to draw the Lady's wheel in the sand. "Bright one, protect my friends."  
"What was that?" Jobah asked when she returned.  
"It's silly I guess but this is a legend I thought She might be listening."  
"Oh, your goddess. I follow the Threefold God. Most people on Bandor do. Do you mind?"  
"Of course not. I'm going to see what Miya's doing."  
Miya was looking at a tide pool, cautiously poking an anemone with one finger. "Neri, what is this?"  
"Anemone. They can't hurt you but if you touch it too much your fingers will go numb. It has a little bit of poison, to kill tiny fish." Neri had a fuzzy memory of her father telling her just that. She couldn't remember ever not knowing things like anemones and fish, they were just things people knew like the sun coming up in the morning and the tide flowing in and out. But the girl born from an egg didn't know these things.  
They watched the anemone uncurl, spreading pink tentacles in the water.  
"If you two are done with the biology lesson, shall we go?"  
"All right." Miya said, and Neri waded out to get their gliders, which were floating a little way out.  
  
"Miya tell me... what do you remember?"  
"Hmm?"  
"What's the first thing you remember?" Neri asked. Miya was standing tucked behind her on the glider, their heads close together.  
"Ah... I remember... I remember being born. The egg was too small so I pushed and it burst open. Then I could see the stars. Galiel asked my name, and I didn't know it. That's the first thing I remember."  
Neri thought for the first time that even Galiel lived as a person day to day. Could he have felt lonely like any other person? And Miya was... sweet. Sort of like a friend and a child at once. Someone to share the stars with.  
Or just someone to make into the false legend.  
"Why did you do it? You lied to everyone, you pretended to be their legend, their Promised One and they believed you could change things for them. How could you..."  
This time when Miya answered it was in a cool distant voice. "I did what I thought was best. That was always the things Galiel asked of me until... he told your friend to kill you. I didn't want you to die... He can control them after they change, I don't know how. He says, forgive me Princess, that they have the minds of beasts, easy to change."  
Neri concentrated very, very hard on what she was doing. These things she was hearing hurt terribly and Miya was only trying to explain. "Please don't say any more."  
  
Jobah waved and called, "I don't think you needed that map after all!"  
"Wow!" Miya said, jerking sideways to see and making the glider rock.  
The island was built up in tiers like a step pyramid of gray stone. Neri had never seen anything like it. "Well that's where we're going all right!"  
"Land on top or on the beach?"  
"Beach!" Neri replied. It would be easier to climb up the mountain than down it anyway.  
Jobah landed on the beach, jumping clear and catching the glider as it swung past. Neri tried to land in the water, messed it up, and dumped herself and Miya in the drink. Miya came up laughing, her hair plastered to her head, "You are so clumsy!"  
Neri grinned at her and started towing their glider to shore.  
It was just an island, uninhabited and bushy beyond the golden sand. Neri saw curved marks in the sand where seals had rested then pushed off into the water.   
"Is that a building or what?" Jobah asked, looking up and shading his eyes.  
"I don't know. Let's go up and see."  
"I can't sense a crystal." Miya said, frowning.  
There was no path. They had to pick their way around waist high bushes and rocks and duck under the low branches of trees. Miya kept scurrying forward or hanging back to look at leaves or birds of mushrooms. Jobah looked like he wanted to do the same but had too much dignity.  
The lowest tier was a blank wall of gray stone higher than their heads. It looked like many huge stones had been se up edge to edge around the mountain and mortared together. This wall went on long enough to make Neri wondered if it circled the whole island. Maybe it was just an experiment in combating erosion or something. Just as she was about to suggest they give up and try coming in from the top, they found the door. It was simple, two slabs connected by a strange lock: two claws from one side encircled a flat disk from the other.  
"What is this?" Miya wrapped her hands around the bottom claw and tugged, then swung from it with all her weight. The lock didn't shift. As Miya let go her hand brushed the round plate and left a smear of blue light.  
The three of them stared.  
"It's... touch it again."  
Miya swept her hand across. Light glowed, and quickly faded.  
"Try your hand, Neri." Jobah said.  
Neri didn't want to, suddenly terrified it wouldn't work. She was Lady Neri's descendent, it was an honor, a great thing, she'd been told since she was too young to understand. What would she be, if the Lapis technology wouldn't work fore her?  
"Neri?"  
"Let's all try at the same time." Neri held up her right hand and looked at her companions.  
Three hands flattened against the disk and pulled away. The two outer handprints faded. Neri's stayed. The lock unlatched and swung open, and the stones sunk into the cliff and slid aside.  
They were looking at a huge silver room, and a spaceship., It was as different from Galiel's as anything could be: sleek and silver.  
"It's beautiful." Neri observed.  
"It's old."  
Miya went in. She fit, pristine black and white against pristine silver. Neri and Jobah followed. Their footsteps were quiet on the floor. The back of the ship wasn't so clean, it was burned black, the metal pitted and eaten away.  
High on one side was an old crest from the days just after Earth and the Lapis Planet came together as one people. Below it was the ship's name. Revalie.  
"It's way too small to be a colony ship. An explorer maybe?"  
"Princess, come open the door." Miya was pulling on a door with no luck. This time the problem was not mysterious technology but a stuck door. The three of them crowded together and threw all their strength at the wheel locking the door. It finally turned and air hissed as the ship's seal was broken.  
They climbed into an alien hallway. Light was coming at strange angles, through the walls. The floor warmed under their feet.  
"That way. Go on, Neri." Miya gave her friend a shove.  
Neri went.  
They found the control room. The crystal was inside a pillar, glowing in the light of three converging sunbeams. Neri lifted it free and a tingle went through her hands. The main screen in front of her lit up for just a second and a voice said, "Testing testing, I'll say the world situation is all my brother's fau-" Then the screen went dead and all the lights went off and came back on more dimly.  
Miya said, "We should go, before the rest of the power runs out."  
Neri wanted to see the rest of that nonsensical message. She wanted to know how the Revalie had come here and who had flown it and why it had been walled up inside a mountain. But there wasn't time. "All right. Let's go."  
They left the ship and wrestled its door closed and sealed again. A serpent lay in the sun across the open cave door. Neri held out her hand to stop the others. "Stay back."  
"Poison?" Jobah asked.  
"Yes. There's no hospital here to give antidote."  
The serpent looked at them, its tail with the barbed sting lashing the air. Then it raised its head and bowed to Neri, and slipped away.   
As she walked down the hill new leaves appeared on bushes and flower buds opened. A seal heaved itself out of the water, humming curiously. Seeing it, Jobah backed away and Miya hid behind a tree.  
Neri crouched in the sand, holding the crystal out for the seal to see. It sniffed, its whiskers brushing Neri's hands. The wickedly sharp teeth were just inches from her fingers, but the seal was only curious.  
Miya too was curious, she came out and crouched behind Neri. "What is it? Is it a gentle creature?" She drew back as the seal's head swung to look at her.  
"An Oceannaic leopard seal. Yes, they're gentle."  
Miya reached out a trembling hand to stroke the gray fur and the seal sighed happily under her hand. Then t turned and pushed off into the ocean and away.  
"It's like a miracle." Jobah held out a branch covered with tiny leaves and white flowers. "This was on the ground, already broken off the tree."  
"Ah..." Neri didn't know what to say. She touched the branch and one end split into roots. "Leave it. Let's go."  
They did. Jobah kept looking back at the new flowered bush growing at the water's edge.  
  



	10. Legend of the Promised One 10

Disclaimer: Mediaworld's characters belong to them. This story belongs to me. No copyright infringement is intended. No money is being made.   
  
Legend of the Promised One  
Becoming Our Legends  
  
  
It was the strangest flight. Fish came to the top of the water as if to watch them, and seals leaped to see the gliders, and to catch an easy meal. Even mats of seaweed came out with new green tendrils and flowers. Birds followed them.  
"Beautiful." Miya said, but Neri found it more eerie than lovely. She wanted to fly through the night and get home in the dark, but Jobah insisted they stop and sleep. He bullied Neri and Miya down to a small island. Of course Neri crashed the glider again, and Miya grumbled that next time she wanted to ride drier transportation. She went around a rock and shed most of her clothes so the satins could dry while she slept in a nest of leaves.  
"Neri, truly, I wanted to talk to you."  
"I know." Neri said in the same quiet voice. She untied the bag holding the crystal from around her shoulders, set the crystal in the sand, and wrung water out of the bag. Her clothes were already drying in the warm night air.  
"What are you going to do when we get back?"  
"I don't know." Neri had tried to think of a plan, to think of anything they could do, and hadn't been able to.  
"I have an idea. We leave Miya here. If Galiel really cares about her he won't leave without her. It would give us some power over him."  
"Miya could swim to the palace. And if she couldn't, she'd drown. I care about her."  
"I know, and so do I. But you have to protect everyone, and Oceanna. You have to be the Promised One."  
Neri bowed her head. Salt water dripped from her hair and slid down her cheeks. "I know. But-you should go! Go back to Bandor! Get away from here!"  
"No thanks." Jobah said casually.  
"'No thanks'?"  
"You're here. My sister...right now I don't want to claim kinship with her but she's here. If this world is ending I want to be here until the last minute trying to save it."  
"I... Thank you. Makes me glad."  
"Since we're having this starlight talk... if we survive, ask me how I feel about you."  
Neri's heart filled with traitorous delight, but this was no time for such hopes. She stood up and looked over at Miya. The girl was curled up in a nest of leaves, her pale limbs shining. "She's asleep and we should be too. But if we survive, I will ask you."  
In a minute they'd settled down for the night. Jobah had a thin mattress rolled up in a compartment in the glider and Neri was happy to sleep on sand, one arm crooked under her head, the other absently pulling the crystal close to keep it safe. The last thing she felt was the sweet coolness of the crystal against her hand.  
  
The next day they reached the palace. Floating above it Neri felt only panic. She didn't know what was going to happen, or how she could change it. There was nothing to do but go in.  
"Neri..." Miya murmured.  
"I... I'll protect you Miya, so please help me protect Oceanna."  
Miya didn't reply.  
  
The crowd of people was smaller, and they were all people now. Neri saw Neanda and ran to him.  
"Neri!" Neanda hugged her back, lifting her off her feet.  
"Neanda! Thank you, thank you for staying alive. You'll be safe now."  
"None of us are. You should go from here!"  
"Where is my uncle?"  
"Badly sick. Beloved, go, before Galiel destroys us all!"  
"I can't." Neri whispered and turned to look back.  
Miya had tried to go to Galiel; Jobah was holding onto the back of her dress to stop her.  
"I have to go to them." Neri said. Neanda didn't follow her."  
The other three crystals were set in a strange stand made of silver plates and wires and flowing with strange metallic liquids. There was an empty space for the fourth crystal, the one Neri held in the curve of her arm. Jobah was holding Miya at arms length by the neck of her dress. Miya scowled but didn't fight; from the look on his face Jobah would happily have throttled her.  
Galiel's mad eyes watched them.  
"We've come back."  
Galiel leaned forward, looking at the crystal hungrily. But when he finally spoke he didn't sound happy. "You have."  
"Now what? I won't just give it to you, and I can protect my people now." The crystal was humming in her hand, delightedly, as if it knew the others were close.  
"Galiel, if you take the crystals millions of people on Oceanna will die, like millions on Bandor died. You know that. This time she will die too."  
Miya shouted and tried to squirm away.  
"We wouldn't-let her go, Jobah-Miya, we wouldn't."  
Miya straightened her satins with a flounce. "I know you wouldn't." She took two steps, enough that she couldn't be grabbed again easily, and stood there. Choosing a side? Or just not choosing?  
Enough. Neri spoke to Galiel, "Why? Why is your life worth so much you'll destroy others just to keep it? Your life... like that..." her voice faded, "Doesn't it hurt?"  
Galiel's set face didn't change, but his voice was soft. "Every moment, but my life is all I have. All I have, princess. When I lived here people would walk away from me in the halls. No one wanted to speak to me. The queen's cursed wizard, destined to bring on the time of darkness. The queen's pet, living on Oceanna only by her favor. You'll never know how that feels, princess."  
"I..." Neri remembered the night after the fliers' brush with war, when her own people had looked at her with fear. But not everyone. "No, I'll never know."  
"All the good I tried to do was nothing compared to a glance from a blind woman. Trying to be anything but a monster I walked right into that role. Living is all I have."  
"All you have and you managed to mess it up. No wonder Neri feels sorry for you."  
"Do you, princess?"  
Neri wished Jobah hadn't spoken, but she knew better than to lie. "Yes, of course I do. But it was your choice to take all the bad things you know and turn them on others."  
"Enough." Miya was holding a gun, the point to her own chest.  
"Don't!" Jobah shouted.  
"Miya!"  
"Enough. Give us the crystal so we can leave." So this was the side she'd chosen.  
"It's all right-I'm doing it." Neri lowered the crystal into its place. She looked at Galiel and saw only horror in his face. Lightning flashed between the crystals.  
The gun went off. No, it almost exploded. Bits of hot metal fell on Miya's dress, scorching holes that were nothing compared to the terrible stain spreading across her chest.  
Galiel screamed, a terrible sound.  
"Miyaaaaa!" Neri wrenched the crystal back in a splash of lightning she didn't notice. A minute later it fell, forgotten, as Neri knelt beside her friend. Miya was dying. There was nothing Neri could do to give her breath. Unless...  
No.  
The crystal...  
No.  
It glowed beside her, offering, offering to replace Miya's torn heart. What will you do? Came the song from the sea.  
"What will you do?" Galiel asked coldly. "Save her and be the monster who destroyed all Oceanna or let her die and be the Promised One?"  
The... Promised One.  
"I..." It was the wrong choice. The worst choice. The only choice she could make. "I promised..." The crystal came to her hand.  
"Wait." Not Jobah's voice; Galiel's. He held a shaking hand, his real hand, over the crystal and whispered, "You win. Make sure... give her a future."  
His body ignited, burning without heat, burning away to nothing, to a breath of ash on the air. The crystals blazed like a white sun filling the room. Neri thought she saw a young man with flowing hair, turning away... then she had to close her eyes against the light.  
Miya sat up and pulled open the front of her dress to reveal smooth skin beneath. She looked down at herself, her dress scorched, her hands no longer burned but still covered in blood, and burst into tears. Neri flinched at the blood but awkwardly tried to comfort her. She probably would have been crying on someone, if Miya hadn't been crying on her.  
"We won." Jobah said quietly. "Are you all right? Is she all right?"  
"I think we are. I need... some peace and quiet! And we both need other clothes." Neri tried to stand, "Come on Miya, you need something else to wear... You have to get up... I can't carry you...."  
Clawed hands gently pushed her aside and Neanda lifted Miya in his arms. "She needs more than a change of clothes Neri, she's in shock. Come."  
Neri muttered, "so am I." And turned to say quickly, "Jobah, please see if anyone else is hurt. Find Zardor and Shema-find my uncle! And nobody touch the crystals!"  
  
When she returned the entire population of the island seemed to be packed into the throne room. Mostly people were staring at the crystals, and Neri had to "excuse me, pardon," her way through.  
"Where's Miya?" Jobah asked when Neri reached him.  
"Asleep. She's pretty devastated by all this but she'll be all right. Now, I want to take that thing apart so we can put the crystals back where they belong!"  
Jobah grinned and pointed. Emilee was sitting on her big toolbox. She waved a pry-bar, "Princess! Let's get this wizard junk out of our palace!" Mita and Ruki popped up from behind her waving other tools.  
Neri put the four crystals in the seat of her uncle's throne. They were all water-clear now. They she called, "Guys, go for it!"  
They set upon Galiel's crystal stand with pry-bars and screwdrivers while everyone cheered and soon had it reduced to bits of metal and containers of chemicals. Those were carefully wrapped up until someone could find out exactly what they were and how best to dispose of them.  
Then there was nothing to do but celebrate.  
"Well, I see I've been deposed."  
"Uncle!" Neri laughed and ran to hug him, "It seemed like the best place to put them. Where were you? Neanda said you were sick."  
"I was, until your miracle."  
"It wasn't me. It was Galiel, he was finally a hero."  
"If you don't believe you're the Promised One, you're the only person who doesn't."  
"I know." Neri was still frightened, but she was getting used to being a legend.  
The party went on all day and into the night, the questioning and talking, then the eating and dancing. As the moon was rising Neri fell asleep leaning on Jobah's shoulder and he woke her up, laughing, and sent her to bed.  
  
  
  
  



	11. Legend of the Promised One 11

Disclaimer: Mediaworld's stuff belongs to them. This story belongs to me. Micro belongs on an episode of Digimon but don't tell him I said so.  
  
Legend of the Promised One  
Our Oceanna  
  
Neri got up in time for lunch, after spending a few hours lying around in bed brooding. She found Miya again hiding in the kitchen.  
"Miya? Are you supposed to be up?"  
"I said I wanted food and to see you. Neanda said I should come."  
"I'm glad you feel better. But I need food! I wish I could teach Micro to bring me breakfast in bed..." Neri hunted herself up a sandwich and went outside to sit in the sun and eat. Miya followed, and they sat against the wall. Reflection in the bronze made them look alike, fading Miya's pale skin to brown and dulling Neri's bright hair.  
"It's so strange. The only person I know is dead. I'm not sure what will happen to me."  
"Stay here." Neri suggested.  
"I will have to. I don't know how to fly the ship, and I doubt any of you will. It was built two thousand years ago."  
Neri shook her head, "Nobody on Oceanna could. Jobah might know someone. But Miya, if you could do anything what would it be? Where would you go?"  
"I would stay here, but how can I? Will they ever... forgive me?"   
That was a tough question. Neri sighed. "I think they will, if you live honestly from now on. You're really a good person! But I can't promise for everyone, only for me."  
"Neanda too. He said he wanted me to live."  
"There, see? Even Emi'll come around someday. Miya... Galiel said he wanted you to have a future. That's the last thing he said."  
"A future." Miya said thoughtfully. She stood up and dusted off her hands, then lowered herself off the edge of the terrace. Neri heard water move and saw Miya's hands holding onto the edge.  
After a few minutes of looking at those hands she had to see what was happening. When she looked, Miya's face was just below the water, like a reflection. She was smiling.   
"Miya?"  
"I can do it! I can breathe now, really!" She grabbed Neri's hands and pulled. They had a short laughing tug-of-war that ended with Neri falling in. They sank together past the windows of the palace.  
"Oceanna blessed you. You're forgiven, you belong here."  
"Not Oceanna. You."  
A ray disturbed by their noise came to look. It circled them once, unimpressed, and glided away.  
"I didn't do anything." Neri said, "Well, maybe."  
Miya laughed, leaning back in the water, her hair swirling above her.  
"Truly! I'm just me. I didn't change into something amazing because I was part of amazing things."  
"Did the other Neri? Change?"  
"I don't know. Lady Neri did really great things but I'm not sure they mattered to her. She just wanted to be happy with her family so the story says. I wonder if she was a real girl or more like the goddess. I wonder if I could be like her. I'll never really know though."  
"No. Even Galiel saw her only once. He just told me she was... very beautiful, and very old."  
They were silent, Neri thinking of her ancestor and the oceans of Earth, Tiara's devotion to her planet, Galiel with nothing but life itself left to him, the native peoples of Oceanna the first time the Revalie appeared in their sky, of creation and destruction and change.  
"Miya, will you help me take the crystals back to the temple? You know the way and I don't want to carry all of them."  
"All right."  
  
The journey was dreamlike, out of the cove and through the seaweed forest. This time the neon blue fish gathered around them to light the way.  
"Will we see the sacred whale?"  
"Yes. You're afraid?"  
Miya nodded but hurried ahead. But Mandrool didn't appear. They went into the temple. Neri wanted to clean it up, clear the floor, make it perfect again. It would be wonderful to have holy days here, with lanterns swaying in the water and people dancing.  
The pillar meant to hold the crystals was full of blown sand and debris, but nothing had grown on it. It took Neri and Miya a long time to scoop out the sand until it was clean. Then Neri put the crystals back, for the first time in two thousand years. They glowed and a ring of light spread through the water. Something was changing. Something would change. The beginning of a new age? The sacred whale sang welcome, to Oceanna, to the future.  
"The future." Miya said.  
The two girls raced for the surface and burst out into the sunlight in a spray of diamonds.  
  
Of course, not everything was as perfect as the world seemed at that moment.  
"You have to go back?"  
"Yes, today." Jobah said, "Winter hit early-winter hits hard on Bandor-and I have to get back to help. I'm sorry."  
"But..." Neri began, then stopped herself. Of course he had to leave. They were leaders. "What are you going to tell people about Galiel and... your sister?"  
"The truth I guess. That she's staying on Oceanna for now and doesn't remember anything, and Galiel died well, almost making up for the things he did while he was alive. Our parents will come see her as soon as they can of course and I'll come back when I can. And not just to see Miya."  
"I know. I... I care a lot about you. I wish I could come to Bandor and see your world for a while, but right now I can't. I'm their legend-and I have to take care of Miya. But later when people here don't need me so much..."  
Jobah was smiling, "I understand. As soon as we can we'll see each other again and then, who knows?"  
That was just what Neri had been trying to say. She nodded, "Right. Exactly."  
"Thanks for the adventure." Jobah said, kissed her softly, and was gone.  
  
That evening Neri swam out to the wide sea and rested there, floating. Above her clouds drifted, turning pink and gold as the sun set. Somewhere below stood the temple of the crystals and the sacred whale sang that all was well, all was well. Neri looked up, her hands cupping water, holding miniature reflections of the sky. And a voice that was Miya's, and Galiel's hiss, and Mandrool's song, whispered, Neri... thank you...  
"Thank you." Neri whispered back to the ocean and the sky of her world.  
  
  
-End-  
  



End file.
